LC 


P3 


UC-NRLF 


17    7DT 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 
MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


uf 


AN 


ORATION 


DKLIVERED    BEFQRK 


THE   ONONDAGA    TEACHERS'    INSTITUTE, 


AT      SYRACUSE,    N.    Y., 


On  the  4th  of  October,  1845. 


BY    T  H  E  0  D  O R K P  A  R  K  K  R 


F  U  B  L  I  S  H  K  D       BY       R  E  Q  TJ  K  S  T  . 


BOSTON: 

WM  .    C  I?  6  S  B  V  6c    II .  P .  N  I  0  II  O  L  5  , 
111  WASHINGTON  STREET. 

1850. 


,  (.)  i  1  /../I  0 


|faklic  f  tottim  nf  tip 


AN 


ORATION 


DELIVERED  BEFORE 


THE  ONONDAGA  TEACHEKS'  INSTITUTE, 


AT     SYRACUSE,    N.  Y., 


On  the  4th  of  October,  1845. 


BY    THEODORE    PARKER. 


PUBLISHED       BY      REQUEST. 


BOSTON: 

WM.   CROSBY  &   H.P.  NICHOLS, 

111  WASHINGTON  STREET. 

1850. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1850,  by 

THEODORE  PARKER, 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


Coolidge  *  Wiley,  Printers,  No.12,  Water  St. 


ORATION. 


EDUCATION  is  the  developing  and  furnishing  of  the 
faculties  of  man.  To  educate  the  people  is  one  of 
the  functions  of  the  State.  It  is  generally  allowed 
in  the  free  States  of  America,  that  the  community 
owes  each  child  born  into  it  a  chance  for  educa- 
tion, intellectual,  moral  and  religious.  Hence  the 
child  has  a  just  and  recognized  claim  on  the  commu- 
nity for  the  means  of  this  education,  which  is  to  be 
afforded  him,  not  as  a  charity,  but  as  a  right. 

This  fact  indicates  the  progress  mankind  has 
made  in  not  many  years.  Once  the  State  only 
took  charge  of  the  Military  education  of  the  peo- 
ple ;  not  at  all  of  their  intellectual,  moral  or  relig- 
ious culture.  They  received  their  military  disci- 
pline, not  for  the  special  and  personal  advantage  of 
the  individuals,  Thomas  and  Oliver,  but  for  the 
benefit  of  the  State.  They  received  it  not  because 
they  were  men,  claiming  it  in  virtue  of  their  man- 
hood, but  as  subjects  of  the  State,  because  their 
military  training  was  needful  for  the  State,  or  for 
its  rulers  who  took  the  name  thereof.  Then  the 
only  culture  which  the  community  took  public 


pains  to  bestow  on  its  members  was  training  them 
to  destroy.  The  Few,  destined  to  command, 
learned  the  Science  of  destruction,  and  the  kindred 
Science  of  defence ;  the  Many,  doomed  to  obey, 
learned  only  the  Art  to  destroy,  and  the  kindred  Art 
of  defence. 

The  ablest  men  of  the  nation  were  sought  out 
for  military  teachers,  giving  practical  lessons  of  the 
Science  and  the  Art ;  they  were  covered  with  hon- 
or and  loaded  with  gold.  The  wealth  of  the  peo- 
ple and  their  highest  science  went  to  this  work. 
Institutions  were  founded  to  promote  this  education, 
and  carefully  watched  over  by  the  State,  for  it  was 
thought  the  Commonwealth  depended  on  disci- 
plined valor.  The  soldier  was  thought  to  be  the 
type  of  the  State,  the  archetype  of  man,  according- 
ly the  highest  spiritual  function  of  the  State  was 
the  production  of  soldiers. 

Most  of  the  civilized  nations  have  past  through 
that  stage  of  their  development:  though  the  few  or  the 
many  are  still  taught  the  Science  or  the  Art  of  war 
in  all  countries  called  Christian,  there  is  yet  a  class 
of  men  for  whom  the  State  furnishes  the  means  of 
education  that  is  not  military  ;  means  of  education 
which  the  individuals  of  that  class  could  not  pro- 
vide for  themselves.  This  provision  is  made  at  the 
cost  of  the  State  ;  that  is,  at  the  cost  of  every  man 
in  the  State,  for  what  the  public  pays,  you  pay  and 
I  pay,  rich  or  poor,  willingly  and  consciously  or  oth- 
erwise. This  class  of  men  is  different  in  different 


countries,  and  the  education  is  modified  to  suit  the 
form  of  government,  and  the  Idea  of  the  State. 
In  Rome  the  State  provides  for  the  public  edu- 
cation of  PRIESTS.  Rome  is  an  ecclesiastical 
State ;  her  government  is  a  Theocracy — a  govern- 
ment of  all  the  people,  but  by  the  Priests,  for  the 
sake  of  the  Priests,  and  in  the  name  of  God. 
Place  in  the  Church  is  power,  bringing  honor  and 
wealth  ;  no  place  out  of  the  Church  is  of  much  val- 
ue. The  offices  are  filled  by  Priests,  the  chief  mag- 
istrate is  a  Priest,  supposed  to  derive  his  power  and 
right  to  rule,  not  democratically,  from  the  People, 
or  royally,  by  inheritance ;  —  for  in  theory  the  Priest 
is  as  if  he  had  no  father,  as  theoretically  he  has  no 
child,  —  but  theocratically  from  God. 

In  Rome  the  Priesthood  is  thought  to  be  the 
flower  of  the  State ;  the  most  important  spiritual 
function  of  the  State,  therefore,  is  the  production 
of  Priests ;  accordingly  the  greatest  pains  are  taken 
with  their  education.  Institutions  are  founded  at 
the  public  cost,  to  make  Priests  out  of  men ;  these 
institutions  are  the  favorites  of  government,  well 
ordered,  well  watched  over,  well  attended,  and 
richly  honored.  Institutions  for  the  education  of 
the  People  are  of  small  account,  ill-endowed,  watch- 
ed over  but  poorly,  thinly  attended,  and  not  honored 
at  all.  The  People  are  designed  to  be  Subjects  of 
the  Church,  and  as  little  culture  is  needed  for  that, 
though  much  to  make  them  Citizens  thereof,  so  lit- 
tle is  given. 

As  there  are  institutions  for  the  education  of  the 


Priests,  so  there  is  a  class  of  men  devoted  to  that 
work;  able  men,  well  disciplined,  sometimes  men 
born  with  genius,  and  always  men  furnished  with 
the  accomplishments  of  sacerdotal  and  scientific  art; 
very  able  men,  very  well  disciplined,  the  most 
learned  and  accomplished  men  in  the  land.  These 
men  are  well  paid  and  abundantly  honored,  for  on 
their  faithfulness  the  power  of  the  Priesthood,  and 
so  the  welfare  of  the  State,  is  thought  to  depend. 
Without  the  allurement  of  wealth  and  honors 
these  able  men  would  not  come  to  this  work ;  and 
without  the  help  of  their  ability  the  Priests  could 
not  be  well  educated.  Hence  their  power  would 
decline ;  the  class,  tonsured  and  consecrated  but 
not  instructed,  would  fall  into  contempt ;  the  The- 
ocracy would  end.  So  the  educators  of  the  Priests 
are  held  in  honor,  surrounded  by  baits  for  vulgar 
eyes ;  but  the  public  educators  of  the  People, 
chiefly  women  or  ignorant  men,  are  held  in  small 
esteem.  The  very  buildings  destined  to  the  educa- 
tion of  the  Priests  are  conspicuous  and  stately; 
the  Colleges  of  the  Jesuits,  the  Propaganda,  the 
Seminaries  for  the  education  of  Priests,  the  Monas- 
teries for  training  the  more  wealthy  and  regular 
clergy,  are  great  establishments,  provided  with  li- 
braries, and  furnished  with  all  the  apparatus  need- 
ed for  their  important  work.  But  the  School- 
houses  for  the  People  are  small  and  mean  build- 
ings, ill  made,  ill  furnished,  and  designed  for  a 
work  thought  to  be  of  little  moment.  All  this  is  in 
strict  harmony  with  the  idea  of  the  Theocracy, 


where  the  Priesthood  is  mighty  and  the  people  are 
subjects  of  the  Church,  where  the  effort  of  the  State 
is  toward  producing  a  Priest. 

In  England  the  State  takes  charge  of  the  educa- 
tion of  another  class,  the  Nobility  and  Gentry ;  that 
is,  of  young  men  of  ancient  and  historical  families, 
the  Nobility,  and  young  men  of  fortune,  the  Gen- 
try. England  is  an  oligarchical  State  ;  her  govern- 
ment an  Aristocracy,  the  government  of  all,  by  a 
few,  the  Nobility  and  Gentry,  for  the  sake  of  a  few, 
and  in  the  name  of  a  King.  There  the  foundation 
of  power  is  wealth  and  birth  from  a  noble  family. 
The  union  of  both  takes  place  in  the  wealthy  no- 
ble. There,  Nobility  is  the  blossom  of  the  State  ; 
aristocratic  birth  brings  wealth,  office,  and  their  con- 
sequent social  distinction.  Political  offices  are 
chiefly  monopolized  by  men  of  famous  birth  or 
great  riches.  The  King,  the  chief  officer  of  the 
land  must  surpass  all  others  in  wealth,  and  the 
pomp  and  circumstance  which  comes  thereof, 
and  in  aristocracy  of  birth.  He  is  not  merely  no- 
ble but  royal ;  his  right  to  rule  is  not  at  all  derived 
from  the  People,  but  from  his  birth.  Thus  he  has 
the  two  essentials  of  aristocratic  influence,  birth 
and  wealth,  not  merely  in  the  heroic  degree,  but  in 
the  supreme  degree. 

As  the  State  is  an  Aristocracy,  its  most  important 
spiritual  function  is  the  production  of  Aristocrats ; 
each  noble  family  transmits  the  full  power  of  its 
blood  only  to  a  single  person — the  oldest  son  ;  of 


the  highest  form,  the  royal,  only  one  is  supposed 
to  be  born  in  a  generation,  only  one  who  receives 
and  transmits  in  full  the  blood  royal. 

As  the  Nobility  are  the  blossom  of  the   State, 
great  pains  must  be  taken  with  the  education  of 
those  persons  born  of  patrician  or  wealthy  families. 
As  England  is  not  merely  a  military  or  ecclesias- 
tical  State,  though  partaking  largely  of  both,  but 
commercial,  agricultural  and  productive  in  many 
ways ;  as  she  holds  a  very  prominent  place  in  the 
politics  of  the  world,  so  there  must  be  a  good  gen- 
eral education  provided  for  these  persons ;  other- 
wise their  power  would  decline,  the  Nobility  and 
Gentry  sink  into  contempt  and  the  government  pass 
into  other  hands, — for  though  a  man  may  be  born  to 
rank  and  wealth,  he  is  not  born  to  knowledge,  nor 
to  practical  skill.     Hence  institutions  are  founded 
for  the  education  of  the  aristocratic  class :  Oxford 
and   Cambridge,   "  those  twins  of  learning,"  with 
their  preparatories  and  help-meets. 

The  design  of  these  institutions  is  to  educate  the 
young  men  of  family  and  fortune.  The  aim  in 
their  academic  culture  is  not  as  in  pagan  Rome,  a 
military  State,  to  make  Soldiers,  nor  as  in  Christian 
Rome  to  turn  out  Priests ;  it  is  not  as  in  the  Ger- 
man universities,  to  furnish  the  world  with  Schol- 
ars and  Philosophers,  men  of  letters  and  science, 
but  to  mature  and  furnish  the  GENTLEMAN,  in  the 
technical  sense  of  that  word,  a  person  convention- 
ally fitted  to  do  the  work  of  a  complicated  aristo- 
cratic State,  to  fill  with  honor  its  various  offices, 


9 


military,  political,  ecclesiastical  or  social,  and  enjoy 
the  dignity  which  comes  thereof.  These  institu- 
tions furnish  the  individual  who  resorts  thither 
with  opportunities  not  otherwise  to  be  had ;  they 
are  purchased  at  the  cost  of  the  State,  at  the  cost 
of  each  man  in  the  State.  The  Alumnus  at  Ox- 
ford pays  his  term-bills,  indeed,  but  the  amount 
thereof  is  a  trifle  compared  to  the  actual  cost  of 
his  residence  there  ;  mankind  pays  the  residue. 

These  institutions  are  continually  watched  over 
by  the  State,  which  is  the  official  guardian  of  aris- 
tocratic education ;  they  are  occasionally  assisted 
by  grants  from  the  public  treasury,  though  they 
are  chiefly  endowed  by  the  voluntary  gifts  of  indi- 
vidual men.  But  these  private  gifts,  like  the  pub- 
lic grants,  corne  from  the  earnings  of  the  whole 
nation. 

These  institutions  are  well  endowed,  superin- 
tended well,  and  richly  honored;  their  Chancel- 
lors and  Vice-chancellors  are  men  of  distinguished 
social  rank;  they  have  their  Representatives  in 
Parliament ;  able  men  are  sought  out  for  Teachers, 
Professors,  Heads  of  Houses ;  men  of  good  ability, 
of  masterly  education,  and  the  accomplishments 
of  a  finished  gentleman.  They  are  well  paid, 
and  copiously  rewarded  with  honors  and  social 
distinction.  Gentility  favors  these  institutions; 
Nobility  watches  over  them,  and  Royalty  smiles 
upon  them.  In  this  threefold  sunlight,  no  wonder 
that  they  thrive.  The  buildings  at  their  service  are 
among  the  most  costly  and  elegant  in  the  land ; 


10 


large  museums  are  attached  to  them,  and  immense 
libraries ;  every  printer  in  England,  at  his  own  cost, 
must  give  a  copy  of  each  book  he  publishes  to 
Cambridge  and  Oxford.  What  wealth  can  buy, 
or  artistic  genius  can  create,  is  here  devoted  to  the 
culture  of  this  powerful  class. 

But  while  the  Nobility  and  Gentry  are  reckoned 
the  flower  of  the  State,  the  common  People  are 
only  the  leaves,  and  therefore  thought  of  small 
importance  in  the  political  botany  of  the  nation. 
Their  education  is  amazingly  neglected;  is  mainly 
left  to  the  accidental  piety  of  private  Christians,  to 
the  transient  charity  of  philanthropic  men,  or  the 
"  enlightened  self-interest "  of  mechanics  and  small 
traders,  who  now  and  then  found  institutions  for 
the  education  of  some  small  fraction  of  the  mul- 
titude. But  such  institutions  are  little  favored  by 
the  government,  or  the  spirit  of  the  dominant  class ; 
Gentility  does  not  frequent  them,  nor  Nobility  help 
them,  nor  Royalty  watch  over  to  foster  and  to  bless. 
The  Parliament  which  voted  one  hundred  thou- 
sand pounds  of  the  nation's  money  for  the  queen's 
horses  and  hounds,  had  but  thirty  thousand  to  spare 
for  the  education  of  her  People.  No  honor  attends 
the  educators  of  the  People  ;  no  wealth  is  heaped 
up  for  them ;  no  beautiful  buildings  are  erected  for 
their  use ;  no  great  libraries  got  ready  at  the  public 
charge;  no  costly  buildings  are  provided.  You 
wonder  at  the  colleges  and  collegiate  churches 
of  Oxford  and  of  Cambridge ;  at  the  magnificence 
of  public  edifices  in  London,  new  or  ancient  — 


11 


the  House  of  Parliament,  the  Bank,  the  palaces 
of  royal  and  noble  men,  the  splendor  of  the 
churches  —  but  you  ask,  Where  are  the  school- 
houses  for  the  People?  You  go  to  Bridewell  and 
Newgate  for  the  answer.  All  this  is  consistent 
with  the  idea  of  an  Aristocracy.  The  Gentleman 
is  the  type  of  the  State ;  and  the  effort  of  the  State 
is  towards  producing  him.  The  People  require 
only  education  enough  to  become  the  servants  of 
the  Gentleman,  and  seem  not  to  be  valued  for  their 
own  sake,  but  only  as  they  furnish  pabulum  for 
the  flower  of  1he  Oligarchy. 

In  Rome  and  England,  great  sums  have  been 
given  by  wealthy  men  and  by  the  State  itself  to 
furnish  the  means  of  a  theocratic  or  aristocratic  ed- 
ucation to  a  certain  class ;  and  to  produce  the  nation- 
al priests,  and  the  national  gentlemen  ;  there  pub- 
lic education  is  the  privilege  of  a  few,  but  bought 
at  the  cost  of  the  many ;  for  the  plough-boy  in 
Yorkshire,  who  has  not  culture  enough  to  read  the 
petition  for  daily  bread  in  the  Lord's  Prayer,  helps 
pay  the  salary  of  the  Master  of  Trinity,  and  the 
swine-herd  in  the  Roman  Campagna,  who  knows 
nothing  of  religion,  except  what  he  learns  at  Christ- 
mas and  Easter,  by  seeing  the  Pope  carried  on 
men's  shoulders  into  St.  Peter's,  helps  support  the 
Propaganda  and  the  Roman  College.  The  privi- 
leged classes  are  to  receive  an  education  under  the 
eye  of  the  State  which  considers  itself  bound  to 
furnish  them  the  means  of  a  public  education, 
partly  at  the  individual's  cost,  chiefly  at  the  cost  of 


12 


the  public.  The  amount  of  education  depends  on 
three  things  :  —  on  the  educational  attainments  of 
the  Human  Race  ;  on  the  wealth  and  tranquillity  of 
the  special  nation,  enabling  it  to  avail  itself  of  that 
general  attainment,  and  on  the  natural  powers  and 
industry  of  the  particular  individual  in  the  nation. 
Such  is  the  solidarity  of  mankind  that  the  develop- 
ment of  the  individual  thus  depends  on  that  of  the 
race,  and  the  education  of  a  priest  in  Rome  or  a 
gentleman  in  England  is  the  resultant  of  these 
three  forces,  —  the  attainment  of  mankind,  the 
power  of  the  nation,  and  the  private  character  and 
conduct  of  the  man  himself  Each  of  these  three 
is  a  variable  and  not  a  constant  quantity.  So  the 
amount  of  education  which  a  man  can  receive  at 
Oxford  or  at  Rome  fluctuates  and  depends  on  the 
state  of  the  nation  and  the  world ;  but  as  the  at- 
tainments of  mankind  have  much  increased  with- 
in a  few  years,  so  the  wealth  of  England  has  in- 
creased, and  her  tranquillity  become  more  secure, 
you  see  how  easy  it  becomes  for  the  State  to  offer 
each  gentleman  an  amount  of  education  which  it 
would  have  been  quite  impossible  to  furnish  in  the 
time  of  the  Yorks  and  the  Lancasters. 

In  America  things  are  quite  other  and  different. 
I  speak  of  the  Free  States  of  the  North  ;  the  Slave 
States  have  the  worst  features  of  an  Oligarchy  com- 
bined with  a  theocratic  pride  of  caste,  which  gen- 
erates continual  un-kindness;  there  the  Idea  of  the 
State  is  found  inconsistent  with  the  general  and 


13 


public  education  of  the  People ;  it  is  as  much  so 
in  South  Carolina  as  in  England  or  Rome;  yes, 
more  so,  for  the  public  and  general  culture  of  all 
is  only  dangerous  to  a  Theocracy  or  Aristocracy  while 
it  is  directly  fatal  to  Slavery.  In  England,  and  still 
more  in  Catholic  Rome,  the  churches — themselves 
a  wonderful  museum  of  curiosities,  and  open  all 
the  day  to  all  persons,  —  form  an  independent  ele- 
ment for  the  education  of  the  most  neglected  class. 
But  slavery  and  education  of  the  people  are  in- 
commensurable quantities.  No  amount  of  vio- 
lence can  be  their  common  measure.  The  Repub- 
lic, where  master  and  slave  were  equally  educated, 
would  soon  be  a  red-republic.  The  slave-master 
knows  this,  and  accordingly  puts  education  to  the 
ban,  and  glories  in  keeping  three  million  barbari- 
ans in  the  land,  and  of  course,  suffers  the  necessa- 
ry degradation  which  comes  thereof.  But  in  the 
Free  States  of  the  North  the  government  is  not  a 
Theocracy,  or  an  Aristocracy ;  the  State,  in  theory, 
is  not  for  the  few,  nor  even  for  the  majority,  but  for 
all ;  classes  are  not  recognized,  and  therefore  not 
protected  in  any  privilege.  The  government  is  a 
Democracy,  the  government  of  all,  by  all,  for  all, 
and  in  the  name  of  all.  {\A  man  is  born  to  all  the 
Rights  of  Mankind  ;  all  are  born  to  them,  so  all  are 
equal.  ^Therefore,  what  the  State  pays  for,  not  only 
comes  at  the  cost  of  all,  but  must  be  for  the  use 
and  benefit  of  all.  Accordingly,  as  a  Theocracy  de- 
mands the  education  of  Priests,  and  an  Aristocracy 
that  of  the  Nobility  and  the  Gentry,  so  a  Democra- 


14 


cy  demands  the  EDUCATION  OF  ALL.  The  aim  must 
be,  not  to  make  priests  and  gentlemen  of  a  few,  a 
privileged  class,  but  to  make  MEN  of  all;  that  is  to 
give  a  normal  and  healthy  development  of  their 
intellectual,  moral,  affectional  and  religious  facul- 
ties, to  furnish  and  instruct  them  with  the  most  im- 
portant elementary  knowledge,  to  extend  this  de- 
velopment and  furnishing  of  the  faculties  as  far  as 
possible. 

Institutions  must  be  founded  for  this  purpose  — 
to  educate  all,  rich  and  poor,  men  well-born,  with 
good  abilities,  men  ill-born  with  slender  natural 
powers.  In  New  England,  these  institutions  have 
long  since  been  founded  at  the  public  cost,  and 
watched  over  with  paternal  care,  as  the  Ark  of  our 
Covenant,  the  Palladium  of  our  nation.  It  has 
been  recognized  as  a  theory,  and  practised  on  as  a 
fact,  that  all  the  property  in  the  land  is  held  by  the 
State  for  the  public  education  of  the  People,  as  it 
is  for  their  defence;  that  property  is  amenable 
to  education  as  to  military  defence. 

In  a  Democracy  there  are  two  reasons  why  this 
theory  and  practice  prevail.  One  is  a  Political  rea- 
son :  it  is  for  the  advantage  of  the  State ;  for  each 
man  that  keeps  out  of  the  jail  and  the  poor-house 
becomes  a  voter  at  one  and  twenty,  he  may  have 
some  office  of  trust  and  honor ;  nay,  the  highest 
office  is  open  before  him.  As  so  much  depends  on 
his  voting  wisely,  he  must  have  a  chance  to  qualify 
himself  for  his  right  of  electing  and  of  being 
elected.  It  is  as  necessary  now  in  a  Democracy, 


15 


and  as  much  demanded  by  the  Idea  thereof,  that 
all  should  be  thus  qualified  by  education,  as  it  once 
was  in  a  military  state,  that  all  should  be  bred  up 
soldiers. 

The  other  is  a  Philosophical  reason :  it  is  for  the 
advantage  of  the  individual  himself,  irrespective  of 
the  State.  The  man  is  a  Man ;  an  integer,  arid  the 
State  is  for  him,  as  well  as  a  fraction  of  the  State, 
and  he  for  it.  He  has  a  man's  Rights;  and,  how- 
ever inferior  in  Might  to  any  other  man,  born  of 
parentage  how  humble  soever,  to  no  wealth  at  all, 
with  a  body  never  so  feeble,  he  is  yet  a  man,  and 
so  equal  in  rights  to  any  other  man  born  of  a  fa- 
mous line,  rich  and  able ;  of  course,  he  has  a  right 
to  a  chance  for  the  best  culture  which  the  educa- 
tional attainment  of  mankind,  and  the  circumstan- 
ces of  the  nation  render  possible  to  any  man ;  to 
so  much  thereof  as  he  has  the  inborn  power  and 
the  voluntary  industry  to  acquire.  Even  this  con- 
clusion is  getting  acted  on  in  New  England,  and 
there  are  schools  for  the  dumb  and  the  blind,  even 
for  the  idiot  and  the  convict. 

So  then  the  Idea  of  our  government  demands 
the  education  of  all,  the  amount  of  education  must 
depend  on  the  same  three  variables  mentioned  be- 
fore ;  it  must  be  as  good  as  it  is  possible  for  them 
to  afford.  The  Democratic  State  has  never  done 
its  political  and  educational  duty  until  it  affords  ev- 
ery man  a  chance  to  obtain  the  greatest  amount  of 
education  which  the  attainment  of  mankind  ren- 
ders it  possible  for  the  nation,  in  its  actual  circum- 


16 


stances,  to  command,  and  the  man's  nature  and 
disposition  render  it  possible  for  him  to  take. . 

Looking  at  the  matter  politically,  from  the  point 
of  view  of  the  State,  each  man  must  have  educa- 
tion enough  to  exercise  his  rights  of  electing  and 
being  elected.  It  is  not  easy  to  fix  the  limits  of 
the  amount ;  it  is  also  a  variable  continually  in- 
creasing. Looking  at  the  matter  philosophically, 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  individual,  there  is 
no  limit  but  the  attainment  of  the  race  and  the  in- 
dividual's capacity  for  development  and  growth. 
Only  a  few  men  will  master  all,  which  the  circum- 
stances of  the  nation  and  the  world  render  attain- 
able; some  will  come  short  for  lack  of  power, 
others  for  lack  of  inclination :  make  education  as 
accessible  as  it  can  now  be  made,  as  attractive  as 
the  teachers  of  this  age  can  render  it,  the  majority 
will  still  get  along  with  the  smallest  amount  that 
is  possible  or  reputable.  Only  a  few  will  strive 
for  the  most  they  can  get.  There  will  be  many  a 
thousand  farmers,  traders  and  mechanics^  in  their 
various  callings,  manual  and  intellectual,  to  a  sin- 
gle philosopher.  This  also  is  as  it  should  be,  and 
corresponds  with  the  nature  of  man  and  his  func- 
tion on  the  earth.  Still  all  have  the  natural  right 
to  the  means  of  education  to  this  extent,  by  fulfill- 
ing its  condition. 

To  accomplish  this  work,  the  democratic  educa- 
tion of  the  whole  People,  with  the  aim  of  making 
them  men,  we  want  public  institutions  founded  by 
the  People,  paid  for  by  the  public  money  ;  institu- 


17 


tions  well  endowed,  well  attended,  watched  over 
well,  and  proportionately  honored ;  we  want  teach- 
ers, able  men,  well  disciplined,  well  paid,  and  hon- 
ored in  proportion  to  their  work.  It  is  a  good 
thing  to  educate  the  privileged  classes,  priests  in 
a  Theocracy,  and  gentlemen  in  an  Aristocracy. 
Though  they  are  few  in  number  it  is  a  great 
work;  the  servants  thereof  are  not  too  well  paid, 
nor  too  much  held  in  esteem  in  England  nor  in 
Rome,  nor  too  well  furnished  with  apparatus.  But 
the  public  education  of  a  whole  People  is  a  greater 
work,  far  more  difficult  and  should  be  attended 
with  corresponding  honor,  and  watched  over  even 
more  carefully  by  the  State. 

After  the  grown  men  of  any  country  have  pro- 
vided for  their  own  physical  wants,  and  ensured 
the  needful  physical  comforts,  their  most  important 
business  is  to  educate  themselves  still  further  and 
train  up  the  rising  generation  to  their  own  level. 
It  is  important  to  leave  behind  us  cultivated  lands, 
houses  and  shops,  railroads  and  mills,  but  more 
important  to  leave  behind  us  men  grown,  men 
that  are  men ;  such  are  the  seed  of  material  wealth, 
—  not  it  of  them.  The  highest  use  of  material 
wealth  is  its  educational  function. 

Now  the  attainments  of  the  human  race  increase 
with  each  generation ;  the  four  leading  nations  of 
Christendom,  England,  France,  Germany,  and  the 
United  States,  within  a  hundred  years  have  appa- 
rently, at  the  least  doubled  their  spiritual  attain- 
ments; in  the  free  States  of  America  there  is  a 
3 


18 


constant  and  rapid  increase  of  wealth,  far  beyond 
the  simultaneous  increase  of  numbers,  so  not  only 
does  the  educational  achievement  of  mankind  be- 
come greater  each  age,  but  the  power  of  the  State 
to  afford  each  man  a  better  chance  for  a  better 
education,  greatens  continually,  the  educational  abil- 
ity of  the  State  enlarging  as  those  two  factors  get 
augmented.  The  generation  now  grown  up,  is, 
therefore,  able  and  bound  to  get  a  better  culture 
than  their  fathers,  and  leave  to  their  own  children 
a  chance  still  greater. 

Each  child  of  genius  in  the  nineteenth  century, 
is  born  at  the  foot  of  the  ladder  of  learning  as  com- 
pletely as  the  first  child,  with  the  same  bodily  and 
spiritual  nakedness ;  though  of  the  most  civilized 
race,  with  six,  or  sixty  thousands  of  years  behind 
him,  he  must  begin  with  nothing  but  himself.  Yet 
such  is  the  union  of  all  mankind,  that  with  the  aid 
of  the  present  generation,  in  a  few  years  he  will 
learn  all  that  mankind  has  learned  in  its  long  his- 
tory, next  go  beyond  that,  discovering  and  cre- 
ating anew,  and  then  draw  up  to  the  same  height 
the  new  generation  which  will  presently  surpass 
him. 

A  man's  education  never  ends,  but  there  are  two 
periods  thereof  quite  dissimilar,  the  period  of  the 
boy,  and  that  of  the  man.  Education  in  general 
is  the  developing  and  instructing  of  the  faculties, 
and  is,  therefore,  the  same  in  kind  to  both  man 
and  boy,  though  it  may  be  brought  about  by  dif- 


19 


ferent  forces ;  the  education  of  the  boy,  so  far  as  it 
depends  on  institutions  and  conscious  modes  of 
action,  must  be  so  modified  as  to  enable  him  to 
meet  the  influences  which  will  surround  him  when 
he  is  a  man,  otherwise,  his  training  will  not  ena- 
ble him  to  cope  with  the  new  forces  he  meets, 
and  so  will  fail  of  the  end  of  making  him  a  man. 
I  pass  over  the  influence  of  the  Family  and  of 
Nature,  which  do  not  belong  to  my  present  theme. 
In  America,  the  public  education  of  men  is  chiefly 
influenced  by  four  great  powers  which  I  will  call 
Educational  Forces,  and  which  correspond  to  four 
modes  of  national  activity  ; 

I.  The  Political  action  of  the  People,  represented 
by  the  State ; 

II.  The  Industrial  action  of  the  People,  repre- 
sented by  Business ; 

III.  The  Ecclesiastical  action  of  the  People,  rep- 
resented by  the  Church ; 

IV.  The  Literary  action  of  the  People,  represented 
by  the  Press, 

I  now  purposely  name  them  in  this  order,  though 
I  shall  presently  refer  to  them  several  times,  and 
in  a  different  succession.  These  forces  act  on  the 
people,  making  us  such  men  as  we  are ;  they  act 
indirectly  on  the  child  before  he  comes  to  con- 
sciousness, directly,  afterwards,  but  most  power- 
fully on  the  man.  What  is  commonly  and  tech- 
nically called  education  —  the  development  and 
instruction  of  the  faculties  of  children,  is  only  pre- 
paratory, the  scholastic  education  of  the  boy  is  but 


20 


introductory  to  the  practical  education  of  the  man. 
It  is  only  this  preparatory  education  of  the  children 
of  the  People  that  is  the  work  of  the  schoolmasters. 
Their  business  is  to  give  the  child  such  a  develop- 
ment of  his  faculties,  and  such  furniture  of  prelim- 
inary knowledge,  that  he  can  secure  the  influence 
of  all  these  educational  forces,  appreciating  and  en- 
hancing the  good,  withstanding,  counteracting  and 
at  last  ending  the  evil  thereof,  and  so  continue  his 
education,  and  at  the  same  time  that  he  can  work 
in  one  or  more  of  those  modes  of  activity,  serving 
himself  and  mankind,  politically  by  the  State,  ec- 
clesiastically by  the  Church,  literarily  by  the  Press, 
or  at  any  rate,  industrially  by  his  Business.  To 
give  children  the  preparatory  education  necessary 
for  this  fourfold  receptivity,  or  activity,  we  need 
three  classes  of  public  institutions : 
I.  Free  Common  Schools; 

II  Free  High  Schools ; 

III  Free  Colleges. 

Of  these  I  will  presently  speak  in  detail,  but 
now  for  the  sake  of  shortness  let  me  call  them  all 
collectively  by  their  generic  name  —  the  School. 
It  is  plain  the  Teachers  who  work  by  this  instru- 
ment ought  to  understand  the  good  and  evil  of  the 
four  educational  forces  which  work  on  men  grown, 
in  order  to  prepare  their  pupils  to  receive  the  good 
thereof,  and  withstand  the  evil.  So  then  let  us 
look  a  moment  at  the  character  of  these  educa- 
tional forces,  and  see  what  they  offer  us,  and  what 
men  they  are  likely  to  make  of  their  unconscious 


21 


pupils.     Let  us  look  at  the  good  qualities  first,  and 
next  at  the  evil. 

It  is  plain  that  Business,  Politics  and  the  Press, 
all  tend  to  promote  a  great  activity  of  body  and 
mind.  In  Business,  the  love  of  gain,  the  enter- 
prising spirit  of  our  practical  men  in  all  depart- 
ments, their  industry,  thrift  and  forecast,  stimulate 
men  to  great  exertions,  and  produce  a  consequent 
development  of  the  faculties  called  out.  Social 
distinction  depends  almost  wholly  on  wealth ;  that 
never  is  accumulated  by  mere  manual  industry, 
such  is  the  present  constitution  of  society,  but  it 
is  acquired  by  the  higher  forms  of  industry,  in 
which  the  powers  of  Nature  serve  the  man,  or  he 
avails  himself  of  the  creations  of  mere  manual  toil. 
Hence  there  is  a  constant  pressure  towards  the 
higher  modes  of  industry  for  the  sake  of  money ; 
of  course,  a  constant  effort  to  be  qualified  for  them. 
So  in  the  industrial  departments  the  mind  is  more 
active  than  the  hand.  Accordingly  it  has  come  to 
pass  that  most  of  the  brute  labor  of  the  Free  States 
is  done  by  cattle,  or  by  the  forces  of  Nature — wind, 
water,  fire — which  we  have  harnessed  by  our  ma- 
chinery, and  set  to  work.  In  New  England  most 
of  the  remaining  work  which  requires  little  intelli- 
gence is  done  by  Irishmen,  who  are  getting  a  bet- 
ter culture  by  that  very  work.  Men  see  the  indus- 
trial handiwork  of  the  North,  and  wonder;  they 
do  not  always  see  the  industrial  head-work,  which 
precedes,  directs  and  causes  it  all;  they  seldom 


22 


see  the  complex  forces  of  which  this  enterprise  and 
progress  are  the  resultant. 

There  is  no  danger  that  we  shall  be  sluggards. 
Business  now  takes  the  same  place  in  the  educa- 
tion of  the  People  that  was  once  held  by  War :  it 
stimulates  activity,  promotes  the  intercourse  of  man 
with  man,  nation  with  nation ;  assembling  men  in 
masses,  it  elevates  their  temperature,  so  to  say ;  it 
leads  to  new  and  better  forms  of  organization ;  it 
excites  men  to  invention,  so  that  thereby  we  are 
continually  acquiring  new  power  over  the  ele- 
ments, peacefully  annexing  to  our  domain  new 
provinces  of  Nature  —  water,  wind,  fire,  lightning 
—  setting  them  to  do  our  work,  multiplying  the 
comforts  of  life,  and  setting  free  a  great  amount  of 
human  time.  It  is  not  at  all  destructive ;  not 
merely  conservative,  but  continually  creates  anew. 
Its  creative  agent  is  not  brute  force  but  educated 
mind.  A  man's  trade  is  always  his  teacher,  and 
industry  keeps  a  College  for  mankind,  much  of  our 
instruction  coming  through  our  hands;  with  us, 
where  the  plough  is  commonly  in  the  hands  of  him 
who  owns  the  land  it  furrows,  Business  affords  a 
better  education  than  in  most  other  countries,  and 
develops  higher  qualities  of  mind.  There  is  a 
marked  difference  in  this  respect  between  the 
North  and  South.  There  was  never  before  such 
industry,  such  intense  activity  of  head  and  hand  in 
any  nation  in  a  time  of  peace. 

The  Press  encourages  the  same  activity,  enter- 
prise, perseverance.    Both  of  these  encourage  gen- 


erosity ;  neither  honors  the  miser,  who  gets  for  the 
sake  of  getting,  or  "  starves,  cheats,  and  pilfers  to 
enrich  an  heir ; "  he  does  not  die  respectably  in 
Boston,  who  dies  rich  and  bequeaths  nothing  to 
any  noble  public  charity.  It  encourages  industry, 
which  accumulates  with  the  usual  honesty,  and 
for  a  rather  generous  use. 

The  Press  furnishes  us  with  books  exceedingly 
cheap.  We  manufacture  literature  cheaper  than 
any  nation  except  the  Chinese.  Even  the  best 
books,  the  works  of  the  great  masters  of  thought, 
are  within  the  reach  of  an  industrious  farmer  or 
mechanic  —  if  half  a  dozen  families  combine  for 
the  purpose.  The  educational  power  of  a  few 
good  books  scattered  through  a  community,  is 
well  known. 

Then  the  Press  circulates,  cheap  and  wide,  its 
newspapers,  emphatically  the  literature  of  men 
who  read  nothing  else ;  they  convey  intelligence 
from  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  broaden  the  minds 
of  home-keeping  youths,  who  need  not  nowr  have 
homely  wits. 

The  State,  also,  promotes  activity,  enterprise, 
hardihood,  perseverance  and  thrift.  The  American 
government  is  eminently  distinguished  by  these 
five  qualities.  The  form  of  government  stimulates 
patriotism,  each  man  has  a  share  in  the  public  lot; 
the  Theocracies,  Monarchies,  and  Aristocracies  of 
old  time  have  produced  good  and  great  examples 
of  patriotism,  in  the  few  or  the  many.  But  the 
nobler  forms  of  love  of  country,  of  self-denial  and 


disinterested  zeal  for  its  sake,  are  left  for  a  Democ- 
racy to  bring  to  light. 

Here  all  men  are  voters,  and  ail  great  questions 
are,  apparently  and  in  theory,  left  to  the  decision 
of  the  whole  people.  This  popular  fornf  of  gov- 
ernment is  a  great  instrument  in  developing  and 
instructing  the  mind  of  the  nation.  It  helps  ex- 
tend and  intensify  the  intelligent  activity  which 
is  excited  by  Business  and  the  Press.  Such  is 
the  nature  of  our  political  institutions  that,  in  the 
Free  States,  we  have  produced  the  greatest  degree 
of  national  unity  of  action,  with  the  smallest  ex- 
pense of  personal  freedom,  have  reconciled  na- 
tional unity  with  individual  variety,  not  seeking 
uniformity ;  thus  room  is  left  for  as  much  individ- 
ualism as  a  man  chooses  to  take  ;  a  vast  power  of 
talent,  enterprise  and  invention  is  left  free  for  its 
own  work.  Elsewhere,  save  in  England,  this  is 
latent,  kept  down  by  government.  Since  this  pow- 
er is  educated  and  has  nothing  to  hold  it  back ; 
since  so  much  brute  work  is  done  by  cattle  and  the 
forces  of  Nature,  now  domesticated  and  put  in 
harness,  and  much  time  is  left  free  for  thought, 
more  intelligence  is  demanded,  more  activity,  and 
the  citizens  of  the  Free  States  have  become  the 
most  active,  enterprising  and  industrious  people  in 
the  world ;  the  most  inventive  in  material  work. 

In  all  these  three  forms  of  action  there  is  much 
to  stir  men  to  love  of  distinction.  The  career  is 
open  to  talent,  to  industry;  open  to  every  man; 
the  career  of  Letters,  Business,  and  Politics.  Our 


25 


rich  men  were  poor  men ;  our  famous  men  came 
of  sires  else  not  heard  of.  The  laurel,  the  dollar, 
the  office  and  the  consequent  social  distinction  of 
men  successful  in  letters,  business  and  politics, 
these  excite  the  obscure  or  needy  youth  to  great 
exertions,  and  he  cannot  sleep ;  emulation  wakes 
him  early,  and  keeps  him  late  astir.  Behind  him, 
scattering  "  the  rear  of  darkness,"  stalk  Poverty  and 
Famine,  gaunt  and  ugly  forms,  with  scorpion  whip 
to  urge  the  tardier,  idler  man.  The  intense  ambi- 
tion for  money,  for  political  power,  and  the  social 
results  they  bring,  keep  men  on  the  alert  So 
ambition  rises  early,  and  works  with  diligence  that 
never  tires. 

The  Church,  embracing  all  the  churches  under 
that  name,  cultivates  the  memory  of  men,  and 
teaches  reverence  for  the  past ;  it  helps  keep  ac- 
tivity from  wandering  into  unpopular  forms  of  wick- 
edness or  of  unbelief.  Men  who  have  the  average 
intelligence,  goodness  and  piety,  it  keeps  from 
slipping  back,  thus  blacking  to  rearward  the  wheels 
of  society,  so  that  the  ascent  gained  shall  not  be 
lost ;  men  who  have  less  than  this  average  it 
urges  forward,  addressing  them  in  the  name  of 
God,  encouraging  by  hope  of  Heaven,  and  driving 
with  fear  of  hell.  It  turns  the  thought  of  the  peo- 
ple towards  God ;  it  sets  before  us  some  facts  in 
the  life,  and  some  parts  of  the  doctrine  of  the  no- 
blest One  who  ever  wore  the  form  of  man,  bid- 
ding us  worship  him.  The  ecclesiastical  worship 
of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  is,  perhaps,  the  best  thing  in 
4 


the  American  Church.  It  has  the  Sunday  and  the 
institution  of  preaching  under  its  control.  A  body 
of  disciplined  men  are  its  servants ;  they  praise 
the  ordinary  virtues ;  oppose  and  condemn  the  un- 
popular forms  of  error  and  of  sin.  Petty  vice,  the 
vice  of  low  men,  in  low  places,  is  sure  of  their 
lash.  They  promote  patriotism  in  its  common 
form.  Indirectly,  they  excite  social  and  industrial 
rivalry,  and  favor  the  love  of  money  by  the  honor 
they  bestow  upon  the  rich  and  successful.  But  at 
the  same  time  they  temper  it  a  little,  telling  men, 
as  Business  or  the  State  does  not,  that  there  is  in 
man  a  conscience,  affection  for  his  brother-man, 
and  a  soul  which  cannot  live  by  bread  alone ;  no, 
not  by  wealth,  office,  fame  and  social  rank.  They 
tell  us,  also,  of  eternity,  where  worldly  distinctions, 
except  of  orthodox  and  heterodox,  are  forgotten, 
where  wealth  is  of  no  avail ;  they  bid  us  remem- 
ber God. 

Such  are  the  good  things  of  these  great  national 
forces;  the  good  things  which  in  this  fourfold 
way  we  are  teaching  ourselves.  The  nation  is  a 
monitorial  school  wonderfully  contrived  for  the 
education  of  the  People.  I  do  not  mean  to  say 
that  it  is  by  the  forethought  of  men  that  the  Amer- 
ican Democracy  is  at  the  same  time  a  great  prac- 
tical school  for  the  education  of  the  human  race  : 
this  result  formed  no  part  of  our  plan,  and  is  not 
provided  for  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States ;  it  comes  of  the  forethought  of  God,  and  is 
provided  for  in  the  Constitution  of  the  Universe. 


27 


Now  each  of  these  educational  forces  has  certain 
defects,  negative  evils,  and  certain  vices,  positive 
evils,  which  tend  to  misdirect  the  nation,  and  so 
hinder  the  general  education  of  the  People :  of 
these,  also,  let  me  speak  in  detail. 

The  State  appeals  to  force,  not  to  Justice ;  this  is 
its  last  appeal;  the  force  of  muscles  aided  by 
force  of  mind,  instructed  by  modern  Science  in 
the  Art  to  kill.  The  nation  appeals  to  force  in  the 
settlement  of  affairs  out  of  its  borders.  We  have 
lately  seen  an  example  of  this,  when  we  com- 
menced war  against  a  feeble  nation,  who,  in  that 
special  emergency,  had  Right  on  her  side,  about 
as  emphatically  as  the  force  was  on  our  side.  The 
immediate  success  of  the  enterprise,  the  popular 
distinction  acquired  by  some  of  the  leaders,  the 
high  honor  bestowed  on  one  of  its  heroes,  all  this 
makes  the  lesson  of  injustice  attractive.  It  may  be 
that  a  similar  experiment  will  again  be  tried,  and 
doubtless  with  like  success.  Certainly  there  is  no 
nation  this  side  of  the  water  which  can  withstand 
the  enterprise,  the  activity,  the  invention,  industry 
and  perseverance  of  a  people  so  united,  and  yet  so 
free  and  intelligent.  Another  successful  injustice 
of  this  character,  on  a  large  scale,  will  make  Right 
still  less  regarded,  and  Might  honored  yet  more. 

The  force  we  employ  out  of  our  borders,  Might 
opposed  to  Right,  we  employ  also  at  home  against 
our  brethren,  and  keep  three  millions  of  them  in 
bondage;  we  watch  for  opportunities  to  extend 
the  institution  of  Slavery  over  soil  unpolluted  by 


28 


that  triple  curse,  and  convert  the  Constitution,  the 
fundamental  law  of  the  land,  into  an  instrument 
for  the  defence  of  Slavery, 

The  men  we  honor  politically,  by  choosing  them 
to  offices  in  the  State,  are  commonly  men  of  ex- 
traordinary force,  —  sometimes,  it  is  true,  only  of 
extraordinary  luck,  —  but  of  only  ordinary  Justice; 
men  who,  perhaps,  have  Mind  in  the  heroic  degree, 
but  Conscience  of  the  most  vulgar  pattern.  They 
are  to  keep  the  law  of  the  United  States  when  it 
is  wholly  hostile  to  the  law  of  the  Universe  —  to 
the  Everlasting  Justice  of  God. 

I  am  not  speaking  to  Politicians,  professional 
representatives  of  the  State  ;  not  speaking  for  po- 
litical effect ;  not  of  the  State  as  a  political  ma- 
chine for  the  government  of  the  People.  I  am 
speaking  to  Teachers,  for  an  educational  purpose ; 
of  the  State,  as  an  educational  machine,  as  one  of 
the  great  forces  for  the  spiritual  development  of  the 
People.  Now  by  this  preference  of  force  and  post- 
ponement of  Justice  at  home  and  abroad,  in  the 
selection  of  men  for  office,  with  its  wealth,  and 
rank,  and  honor,  by  keeping  the  law  of  the  land 
to  the  violation  of  the  law  of  God  —  it  is  plain  we 
are  teaching  ourselves  to  love  Wrong ;  at  least  to 
be  insensible  to  the  Right.  What  we  practice  on 
a  national  scale  as  a  people  —  it  is  not  easy  to 
think  wrong  when  practised  on  a  personal  scale, 
by  this  man  and  that. 

The  Patriotism,  also,  which  the  State  nurses,  is 
little  more  than  that  Old  Testament  patriotism 


29 


which  loves  your  countryman,  and  hates  the  stran- 
ger; the  affection  which  the  Old  Testament  attrib- 
utes to  Jehovah,  and  which  makes  him  say,  "  I  loved 
Jacob,  and  I  hated  Esau  ;"  a  patriotism  which  sup- 
ports our  country  in  the  wrong  as  readily  as  in  the 
right,  and  is  glad  to  keep  one-sixth  of  the  nation  in 
bondage  without  hope.  It  is  not  a  patriotism 
which,  beginning  here,  loves  all  the  children  of 
God,  but  one  that  robs  the  Mexican,  enslaves  the 
African,  and  exterminates  the  Indian. 

These  are  among  the  greater  evils  taught  us  by 
the  political  action  of  the  people  as  a  whole.  If 
you  look  at  the  action  of  the  chief  political  parties, 
you  see  no  more  respect  for  Justice  in  the  poli- 
tics of  either  party,  than  in  the  politics  of  the  na- 
nation,  the  resultant  of  both ;  no,  no  more  respect 
for  Right  abroad,  or  at  home.  One  party  aims 
distinctively  at  preserving  the  property  already  ac- 
quired ;  its  chief  concern  is  for  that,  its  sympathy 
there ;  where  its  treasure  is,  is  also  its  heart.  It 
legislates,  consciously  or  otherwise,  more  for  accu- 
mulated wealth,  than  for  the  laboring  man  who 
now  accumulates.  This  party  goes  for  the  Dollar ; 
the  other  for  the  Majority,  and  aims  at  the  greatest 
good  of  the  greatest  number,  leaving  the  good  of 
the  smaller  number  to  most  uncertain  mercies. 
Neither  party  seems  to  aim  at  Justice,  which  pro- 
tects both  the  wealth  that  labor  has  piled  up,  and 
the  laborer  who  now  creates  it ;  Justice,  which  is 
the  point  of  morals  common  to  man  and  God, 
where  the  interests  of  all  men,  abroad  and  at  home, 


electing  and  elected,  greatest  number  and  smallest 
number,  exactly  balance.  Falsehood,  fraud,  a  wil- 
lingness to  deceive,  a  desire  for  the  power  and  dis- 
tinction of  office,  a  readiness  to  use  base  means  in 
obtaining  office  —  these  vices  are  sown  with  a 
pretty  even  hand  upon  both  parties,  and  spring  up 
with  such  blossoms  and  such  a  fruitage  as  we  all 
see.  The  third  political  party  has  not  been  long 
enough  in  existence  to  develop  any  distinctive 
vices  of  its  own. 

I  shall  not  speak  of  the  public  or  private  charac- 
ter of  the  politicians  who  direct  the  State ;  no 
doubt  that  is  a  powerful  element  in  our  national 
education ;  but  as  a  class,  they  seem  no  better 
and  no  worse  than  merchants,  mechanics,  minis- 
ters, and  farmers  as  a  class ;  so  in  their  influence 
there  is  nothing  peculiar,  only  their  personal  char- 
acter ceases  to  be  private,  and  becomes  a  public 
force  in  the  education  of  the  People. 

The  Churches  have  the  same  faults  as  the  State. 
There  is  the  same  postponement  of  Justice  and 
preference  of  force,  the  same  neglect  of  the  Law 
of  God  in  their  zeal  for  the  Statutes  of  Men ;  the 
same  crouching  to  dollars  or  to  numbers.  How- 
ever, in  the  Churches  these  faults  appear  nega- 
tively, rather  than  as  an  affirmation.  The  world- 
liness  of  the  Church  is  not  open,  self-conscious 
and  avowed ;  it  is  not  that  injustice  is  openly 
defended,  but  rather  Justice  goes  by  default.  But 
if  the  Churches  do  not  positively  support  and  teach 


31 


injustice,  as  the  State  certainly  does,  they  do  not 
teach  the  opposite,  and,  so  far  as  that  goes,  are 
allies  of  the  State  in  its  evil  influence.  The  fact 
that  the  Churches,  as  such,  did  not  oppose  the 
war,  and  do  not  oppose  Slavery,  its  continuance, 
or  its  extension ;  nay,  that  they  are  often  found  its 
apologists  and  defenders,  seldom  its  opponents ; 
that  they  not  only  pervert  the  sacred  books  of  the 
Christians  to  its  defence,  but  wrest  the  doctrines  of 
Christianity  to  justify  it ;  the  fact  that  they  cannot, 
certainly  do  not,  correct  the  particularism  of  the 
political  parties,  the  love  of  wealth  in  one,  of  mere 
majorities  in  the  other ;  that  they  know  no  patriot- 
ism not  bounded  by  their  country,  none  coextensive 
with  mankind ;  that  they  cannot  resist  the  vice  of 
party-spirit  —  these  are  real  proofs  that  the  Church 
is  but  the  ally  of  the  State  in  this  evil  influence. 

But  the  Church  has  also  certain  specific  faults 
of  its  own.  It  teaches  injustice  by  continually 
referring  to  the  Might  of  God,  not  His  Justice  ;  to 
His  ability  and  will  to  damn  mankind,  not  asking 
if  He  has  the  Right  ?  It  teaches  that  in  virtue  of 
His  infinite  power,  He  is  not  amenable  to  infinite 
Justice,  and  to  infinite  Love.  Thus,  while  the 
State  teaches,  in  the  name  of  expediency  and  by 
practice,  that  the  Strong  may  properly  be  the  tyrants 
of  the  Weak,  the  mighty  nation  over  the  feeble, 
the  strong  race  over  the  inferior,  that  the  govern- 
ment may  dispense  with  Right  at  home  and 
abroad  —  the  Church,  as  theory  and  in  Christ's 
name,  teaches  that  God  may  repudiate  His  own 
Justice  and  His  own  Love. 


32 


The  Churches  have  little  love  of  Truth,  as  such, 
only  of  its  uses.  It  must  be  such  a  truth  as  they 
can  use  for  their  purposes  ;  canonized  truth ;  truth 
long  known ;  that  alone  is  acceptable  and  called 
"  religious  truth  "  ;  only  that  is  "  of  God  "  ;  all  else 
is  "  profane  and  carnal,"  as  the  Reason  which  dis- 
covers it.  They  represent  the  average  intelligence 
of  society ;  hence,  while  keeping  the  old,  they 
welcome  not  the  new.  They  promote  only  popu- 
lar forms  of  truth,  popular  in  all  Christendom,  or 
in  their  special  sect.  They  lead  in  no  intellectual 
reforms ;  they  hinder  the  leaders.  Negatively  and 
positively,  they  teach,  that  to  believe  what  is  cleri- 
cally told  you  in  the  name  of  Religion,  is  better 
than  free,  impartial  search  after  the  Truth.  They 
dishonor  free  thinking,  and  venerate  constrained 
believing.  When  the  clergy  doubt,  they  seldom 
give  men  audience  of  their  doubt.  Few  scientific 
men  not  clerical  believe  the  Bible  account  of  cre- 
ation, —  the  Universe  made  in  six  days,  and  but  a 
few  thousand  years  ago,  —  or  that  of  the  formation 
of  woman,  and  of  the  deluge.  Some  clerical  men 
still  believe  these  venerable  traditions,  spite  of  the 
Science  of  the  times ;  but  the  clerical  men  who 
have  no  faith  in  these  stories  not  only  leave  the 
people  to  think  them  true  and  miraculously  taught, 
but  encourage  men  in  the  belief,  and  calumniate 
the  men  of  Science  who  look  the  Universe  fairly  in 
the  face  and  report  the  facts  as  they  find  them. 

The  Church  represents  only  the  popular  moral- 
ity, not  any  high  and  aboriginal  virtue.  It  repre- 


33 


sents  not  the  Conscience  of  Human  Nature,  re- 
flecting the  universal  and  unchangeable  moral  laws 
of  God,  touched  and  beautified  by  his  love,  but  only 
the  Conscience  of  Human  History,  reflecting  the 
circumstances  man  has  passed  by,  and  the  institu- 
tions he  has  built  along  the  stream  of  time.  So,  while 
it  denounces  unpopular  sins,  vices  below  the  average 
vice  of  Society,  it  denounces  also  unpopular  excel- 
lence, which  is  above  the  average  virtue  of  Society. 
It  blocks  the  wheels  rearward,  and  the  car  of  Hu- 
manity does  not  roll  down  hill ;  but  it  blocks  them 
forward  also.  No  great  moral  movement  of  the 
age  is  at  all  dependent  directly  on  the  Church  for 
its  birth ;  very  little  for  its  development.  It  is  in 
spite  of  th  k  Church  that  reforms  go  forward ;  it 
holds  the  curb  to  check  more  than  the  rein  to  guide. 
I]  Morals,  as  in  Science,  the  Church  is  on  the 
anti-liberal  side,  afraid  of  progress,  against  move- 
ment, loving  "  yet  a  little  sleep,  a  little  slumber ; " 
conservative  and  chilling,  like  ice,  not  creative,  nor 
even  quickening,  as  water.  It  doffs  to  use  and 
wont ;  has  small  confidence  in  Human  Nature, 
much  in  a  few  facts  of  Human  History.  It  aims 
to  separate  Piety  from  Goodness,  her  natural  and 
heaven-appointed  spouse,  and  marry  her  to  Bigotry, 
in  joyless  and  unprofitable  wedlock.  The  Church 
does  not  lead  men  to  the  deep  springs  of  Human 
Nature,  fed  ever  from  the  far  heights  of  the  Divine 
Nature,  whence  flows  that  river  of  God,  full  of 
living  water,  where  weary  souls  may  drink  peren- 
nial supply.  While  it  keeps  us  from  falling  back, 
5 


34 


it  does  little  directly  to  advance  mankind.  In  com- 
mon with  the  State,  this  Priest  and  Levite  pass  by 
on  the  other  side  of  the  least  developed  classes  of 
Society,  leaving  the  slave,  the  pauper,  and  the 
criminal  to  their  fate,  hastening  to  strike  hands  with 
the  thriving  or  the  rich. 

These  faults  are  shared  in  the  main  by  all  sects  ; 
some  have  them  in  the  common,  and  some  in  a 
more  eminent  degree,  but  none  is  so  distinguished 
from  the  rest  as  to  need  emphatic  rebuke,  or  to  de- 
serve a  special  exemption  from  the  charge.  Such 
are  the  faults  of  the  Church  of  every  land,  and 
must  be  from  the  nature  of  the  institution ;  like 
the  State,  it  can  only  represent  the  average  of 
mankind. 

I  am  not  speaking  to  Clergymen,  professional 
representatives  of  the  Church,  not  of  the  Church 
as  an  ecclesiastical  machine  for  keeping  and  ex- 
tending certain  opinions  and  symbols;  not  for  an 
ecclesiastical  purpose  ;  I  speak  to  Teachers,  for  an 
educational  purpose,  of  the  Church  as  an  educa- 
tional machine,  one  of  the  great  forces  for  the  spir- 
itual development  of  the  people. 

The  Business  of  the  land  has  also  certain  vices 
of  its  own :  while  it  promotes  the  virtues  I  have 
named  before,  it  does  not  tend  to  promote  the  high- 
est form  of  character.  It  does  not  promote  justice 
and  humanity,  as  one  could  wish ;  it  does  not  lead 
the  employer  to  help  the  operative  as  a  man,  only 
to  use  him  as  a  tool,  merely  for  industrial  purposes. 


35 


The  average  merchant  cares  little  whether  his  ship 
brings  cloth  and  cotton,  or  opium  and  ram.  The 
average  capitalist  does  not  wish  the  stock  of  his 
manufacturing  company  divided  into  small  shares, 
so  that  the  operatives  can  invest  their  savings 
therein  and  have  a  portion  of  the  large  dividends 
of  the  rich ;  nor  does  he  care  whether  he  takes 
a  mortgage  on  a  ship  or  a  negro  slave,  nor 
whether  his  houses  are  rented  for  sober  dwellings, 
or  for  drunkeries ;  whether  the  State  hires  his 
money  to  build  harbors  at  home,  or  destroy  them 
abroad.  The  ordinary  manufacturer  is  as  ready  to 
make  cannons  and  cannon-balls  to  serve  in  a  war 
which  he  knows  is  unjust,  as  to  cast  his  iron  into 
mill-wheels,  or  forge  it  into  anchors,  The  common 
farmer  does  not  care  whether  his  barley  feeds  poul- 
try for  the  table,  or,  made  into  beer,  breeds  drunk- 
ards for  the  almshouse  and  the  jail ;  asks  not 
whether  his  rye  and  potatoes  become  the  bread  of 
life,  or,  distilled  into  whiskey,  are  deadly  poison  to 
men  and  women.  He  cares  little  if  the  man  he 
hires  become  more  manly  or  not;  he  only  asks 
him  to  be  a  good  tool.  Whips  for  the  backs  of 
negro  slaves  are  made,  it  is  said,  in  Connecticut 
with  as  little  compunction  as  Bibles  are  printed 
there ;  "  made  to  order,"  for  the  same  purpose  — 
for  the  dollar.  The  majority  of  blacksmiths  would 
as  soon  forge  fetter-chains  to  enslave  the  innocent 
limbs  of  a  brother  man,  as  draught-chains  for  oxen. 
Christian  mechanics  and  pious  young  women, 
who  would  not  hurt  the  hair  of  an  innocent  head, 


36 


have  I  seen  at  Springfield,  making  swords  to  slaugh- 
ter the  innocent  citizens  of  Vera  Cruz  and  Jalapa. 
The  ships  of  respectable  men  carry  rum  to  intoxi- 
cate the  savages  of  Africa,  powder  and  balls  to 
shoot  them  with ;  they  carry  opium  to  the  Chi- 
nese ;  nay,  Christian  slaves  from  Eichmond  and 
Baltimore  to  New  Orleans  and  Galveston.  In  all 
commercial  countries,  the  average  vice  of  the  age 
is  mixed  up  with  the  industry  of  the  age,  and  un- 
consciously men  learn  the  wickedness  long  en- 
trenched in  practical  life.  It  is  thought  industrial 
operations  are  not  amenable  to  the  moral  law,  only 
to  the  law  of  trade.  "  Let  the  supply  follow  the  de- 
mand "  is  the  maxim.  A  man  who  makes  as  prac- 
tical a  use  of  the  golden  rule  as  of  his  yard -stick, 
is  still  an  exception  in  all  departments  of  Business. 
Even  in  the  commercial  and  manufacturing  parts 
of  America,  money  accumulates  in  large  masses; 
now  in  the  hands  of  an  individual,  now  of  a  cor- 
poration. This  money  becomes  an  irresponsible 
power,  acting  by  the  laws,  but  yet  above  them.  It 
is  wielded  by  a  few  men,  to  whom  it  gives  a  high 
soiial  position  and  consequent  political  power. 
They  use  this  triple  form  of  influence,  pecuniary, 
social  and  political,  in  the  spirit  of  commerce,  not 
of  Humanity,  not  for  the  interest  of  Mankind ; 
thus  the  spirit  of  trade  comes  into  the  State. 
Hence  it  is  not  thought  wrong  in  politics  to  buy 
a  man,  more  than  in  commerce  to  buy  a  ship ; 
hence  the  rights  of  a  man,  or  a  nation  are  looked 
on  as  articles  of  trade,  to  be  sold,  bartered  and 


37 


pledged ;  and  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 
we  have  heard  a  mass  of  men,  more  numerous  than 
all  our  citizens  seventy  years  ago,  estimated  as 
worth  twelve  hundred  millions  of  dollars. 

In  most  countries  Business  comes  more  closely 
into  contact  with  men  than  the  State,  or  the 
Church,  or  the  Press,  and  is  a  more  potent  educa- 
tor. Here  it  not  only  does  this  but  controls  the 
other  three  forces,  which  are  mainly  instruments  of 
this;  hence  this  form  of  evil  is  more  dangerous 
than  elsewhere,  for  there  is  no  power  organized  to 
resist  it  as  in  England  or  Rome;  so  it  subtly  pen- 
etrates everywhere,  bidding  you  place  the  accidents 
before  the  substance  of  manhood  and  value  money 
more  than  man. 

Notwithstanding  the  good  qualities  of  the  Press,  the 
books  it  multiplies,  and  the  great  service  it  renders, 
it  also  has  certain  vices  of  its  own.  From  the  na- 
ture of  the  thing  the  greater  part  of  literature  repre- 
sents only  the  public  opinion  of  the  time.  It  must 
therefore  teach  deference  to  that,  not  deference  to 
Truth  and  Justice.  It  is  only  the  eminent  litera- 
ture which  can  do  more  than  this ;  books,  which 
at  first  fall  into  few  hands  though  fit,  and  like  the 
acorn  sown  with  the  mulleins  and  the  clover, 
destined  to  germinate  but  slowly,  long  to  be  over- 
topped by  an  ephemeral  crop,  at  last,  after  half 
an  hundred  years,  shall  mature  their  own  fruit 
for  other  generations  of  men.  The  current  litera- 
ture of  this  age  only  popularizes  the  thought  of  the 


38 


eminent  literature  of  the  past   Great  good  certainly 
comes  from  this,  but  also  great  evil. 

Of  all  literature  the  newspapers  come  most  into 
contact  with  men  —  they  are  the  literature  of  the 
people,  read  by  such  as  read  nothing  else ;  read 
also  by  such  as  read  all  things  beside.  Taken  in  the 
mass  they  contain  little  to  elevate  men  above 
the  present  standard.  The  political  journals  have 
the  general  vice  of  our  Politics,  and  the  special 
faults  of  the  particular  party  ;  the  theological  jour- 
nals have  the  common  failings  of  the  Church,  inten- 
sified by  the  bigotry  of  the  sects  they  belong  to ; 
the  commercial  journals  represent  the  bad  qualities 
of  Business.  Put  all  three  together  and  it  is  not 
their  aim  to  tell  the  Truth,  the  whole  truth,  and 
nothing  but  the  truth,  nor  to  promote  Justice,  the 
whole  of  justice,  and  nothing  but  justice.  The 
popular  literature  helps  bring  to  consciousness  the 
sentiments  and  ideas  which  prevail  in  the  State,  the 
Church,  and  Business.  It  brings  those  sentiments 
and  ideas  intimately  into  connection  with  men, 
magnetizing  them  with  the  good  and  ill  of  those 
three  powers,  but  it  does  little  directly  to  promote 
a  higher  form  of  human  character. 

So,  notwithstanding  the  good  influence  of  these 
four  modes  of  national  activity  in  educating  the 
grown  men  of  America,  they  yet  do  not  afford  the 
highest  teaching  which  the  people  require  to  real- 
ize individually  the  idea  of  a  Man,  and  jointly  that 
of  a  Democracy.  The  State  does  not  teach  per- 
fect Justice ;  the  Church  does  not  teach  that,  or 


39 


Love  of  Truth.  Business  does  not  teach  perfect 
Morality,  and  the  average  Literature,  which  falls 
into  the  hands  of  the  million,  teaches  men  to  res- 
pect public  opinion  more  than  the  word  of  God, 
which  transcends  that.  Thus  these  four  teach  only 
the  excellence  already  organized  or  incorporated  in 
the  laws,  the  theology,  the  customs,  and  the  books 
of  the  land.  I  cannot  but  think  these  four  teach- 
ers are  less  deficient  here,  than  in  other  lands,  and 
have  excellencies  of  their  own,  but  the  faults  men- 
tioned are  inseparable  from  such  institutions.  An 
institution  is  an  organized  thought ;  of  course,  no  in- 
stitution can  represent  a  truth  which  is  too  new,  or 
too  high  for  the  existing  organizations,  yet  that  is  the 
truth  which  it  is  desirable  to  teach.  So  there  will 
always  be  exceptional  men,  with  more  justice, 
truth  and  love  than  is  represented  by  the  institu- 
tions of  the  time,  who  seem  therefore  hostile  to 
these  institutions,  which  they  seek  to  improve  and 
not  destroy.  Contemporary  with  the  Priests  of 
Judah  and  Israel  were  the  Prophets  thereof  antithet- 
ic to  one  another  as  the  centripetal  and  centrifu- 
gal forces,  but,  like  them,  both  necessary  to  the 
rhythmic  movement  of  the  orbs  in  heaven,  and  the 
even  poise  of  the  world. 

In  Rome  and  in  England  the  Idea  of  a  Theoc- 
racy and  an  Aristocracy  has  become  a  Fact  in  the 
Institutions  of  the  land,  which,  accordingly  favor  the 
formation  of  Priests  and  Gentlemen.  The  Teachers 
of  the  educated  class,  therefore,  may  trust  to  the  ma- 
chinery already  established  to  do  their  work,  only 


40 


keeping  off  the  spirit  of  the  age  which  would  make 
innovations,  and  such  is  the  resp3ctability  and 
popular  esteem  of  the  institutions,  that  this  is  done 
easier  than  men  think,  by  putting  an  exceptional 
book  in  the  index  at  Rome  or  in  the  academical 
fire  at  Oxford.  But  here,  the  Idea  of  a  Democracy 
is  by  no  means  so  well  established  and  organized 
in  institutions.  It  is  new,  and  while  a  Theocrat 
and  an  Aristocrat  are  respected  everywhere,  a 
Democrat  is  held  in  suspicion  ;  accordingly,  to  make 
Men,  the  Teacher  cannot  trust  his  educational  ma- 
chinery, he  must  make  it,  and  invent  anew  as 
Wc4l  as  turn  his  mill. 

These  things  being  so,  it  is  plain  the  Teachers  in 
the  schools  should  be  of  such  a  character  that  they 
can  give  the  children  what  they  will  most  want  when 
they  become  men ;  such  an  intellectual  and  moral 
development  that  they  can  appreciate  and  receive 
the  good  influence  of  these  four  educational  forces, 
and  withstand,  resist,  and  exterminate  the  evil 
thereof  In  the  schools  of  a  Democracy  which  are 
to  educate  the  People  and  make  them  men,  you 
need  more  aboriginal  virtue  than  in  the  schools  of 
an  Aristocracy  or  a  Theocracy  where  a  few  are  to  be 
educated  as  Gentlemen  or  Priests,  Since  the  insti- 
tutions of  the  land  do  not  represent  the  Idea  of  a 
Democracy,  and  the  average  spirit  of  the  People  — 
which  makes  the  institutions  —  represents  it  no 
more,  if  the  children  of  the  People  are  to  become 
better  than  their  fathers,  it  is  plain  their  Teachers 


41 


must  be  Prophets,  and  not  Priests  merely ;  must 
animate  them  with  a  spirit  higher,  purer  and  more 
holy  than  that  which  inspires  the  State,  the  Church, 
Business,  or  the  common  Literature  of  the  times. 
As  the  Teacher  cannot  impart  and  teach  what  he 
does  not  possess  and  know,  it  is  also  plain  that  the 
Teacher  must  have  this  superior  spirit. 

To  accomplish  the  public  education  of  the  chil- 
dren of  the  People  we  need  the  three  classes  of  in 
stitutions  just  mentioned :  free  Common   Schools, 
free  High  Schools  and  free  Colleges.     Let  me  say 
a  word  of  each. 

The  design  of  the  Common  School  is  to  take 
children  at  the  proper  age  from  their  mothers,  and 
give  them  the  most  indispensable  development, 
intellectual,  moral,  affectional  and  religious,  —  to 
furnish  them  with  as  much  positive,  useful  knowl- 
edge as  they  can  master,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
teach  them  the  three  great  scholastic  helps  or  tools 
of  education  —  the  art  to  read,  to  write  and  cal- 
culate. 

The  children  of  most  parents  are  easily  brought 
to  school,  by  a  little  diligence  on  the  part  of  the 
Teachers,  and  school  committee ;  but  there  are 
also  children  of  low  and  abandoned,  or  at  least, 
neglected  parents,  who  live  in  a  state  of  continual 
truancy ;  they  are  found  on  the  banks  of  your 
canals;  they  swarrn  in  your  large  cities.  When 
those  children  become  men,  through  lack  of  pre- 
vious development,  instruction  and  familiarity  with 
6 


these  three  instruments  of  education,  they  cannot 
receive  the  full  educational  influence  of  the  State 
and  Church,  of  Business  and  the  Press:  they 
lost  their  youthful  education,  and  therefore,  they 
lose,  in  consequence,  their  manly  culture.  They 
remain  Dwarfs,  and  are  Barbarians  in  the  midst  of 
Society ;  there  will  be  exceptional  men  whom 
nothing  can  make  vulgar ;  but  this  will  be  the  lot 
of  the  mass.  They  cannot  perform  the  intelli- 
gent labor  which  Business  demands,  only  the  brute 
work,  so  they  lose  the  development  which  comes 
through  the  hand  that  is  active  in  the  higher  modes 
of  industry,  which,  after  all,  is  the  greatest  educa- 
tional force;  accordingly,  they  cannot  compete  with 
ordinary  men,  and  remain  poor ;  lacking  also  that 
self-respect  which  comes  of  being  respected,  they 
fall  into  beggary,  into  intemperance,  into  crime ;  so, 
from  being  idlers  at  first,  a  stumbling-block  in  the 
way  of  Society,  they  become  paupers,  a  positive 
burthen  which  Society  must  take  on  its  shoulders  ; 
or  they  turn  into  criminals,  active  foes  to  the  indus- 
try, the  order  and  the  virtue  of  Society. 

Now  if  a  man  abandons  the  body  of  his  child, 
the  State  adopts  that  body  for  a  time ;  takes  the  guar- 
dianship thereof,  for  the  child's  own  sake ;  sees  that 
it  is  housed,  fed,  clad,  and  cared  for.  If  a  man 
abandons  his  child's  Spirit,  and  the  child  commits 
a  crime,  the  State,  for  its  own  sake,  assumes  the  tem- 
porary guardianship  thereof  and  puts  him  in  a 
jail.  "When  a  man  deserts  his  child,  taking  no 
concern  about  his  education,  I  venture  to  make 


the  suggestion,  whether  it  would  not  be  well,  as 
a  last  resort,  for  the  State  to  assume  the  guardian- 
ship of  the  child  for  its  own  sake,  and  for  the 
child's  sake  ?  We  allow  no  one,  with  ever  so 
thick  a  skin,  to  grow  up  in  nakedness ;  why  should 
we  suffer  a  child,  with  however  so  perverse  a  par- 
ent, to  grow  up  in  ignorance  and  degenerate  into 
crime  ?  Certainly,  a  naked  man  is  not  so  danger- 
ous to  Society  as  an  ignorant  man,  nor  is  the  spec- 
tacle so  revolting.  I  should  have  less  hope  of  a 
State  where  the  majority  were  so  perverse  as  to 
continue  ignorant  of  reading,  writing  and  calcu- 
lating, than  of  one  where  they  were  so  thick-skinned 
as  to  wear  no  clothes.  In  Massachusetts,  there 
is  an  Asylum  for  juvenile  offenders,  established  by 
the  city  of  Boston,  a  Farm  School  for  bad  boys, 
established  by  the  characteristic  benevolence  of  the 
rich  men  of  that  place,  and  a  State  Reform  School 
under  the  charge  of  the  Commonwealth:  all  these 
are  for  lads  who  break  the  laws  of  the  land. 
Would  it  not  be  better  to  so  take  one  step  more, 
take  them  before  they  offended,  and  allow  no 
child  to  grow  up  in  the  barbarism  of  ignorance  ? 
Has  any  man  an  unalienable  right  to  live  a  savage 
in  the  midst  of  Civilization  ? 

We  need  also  public  High  Schools,  to  take 
children  where  the  Common  Schools  leave  them, 
and  carry  them  further  on.  Some  States  have 
done  something  towards  establishing  such  insti- 
tutions; they  are  common  in  New  England. 
Some  have  established  Normal  Schools,  special 


44 


High  Schools  for  the  particular  and  professional 
education  of  public  Teachers.  Without  these,  it  is 
plain  there  would  not  be  a  supply  of  competent 
educators  for  the  public  service. 

Then  we  need  free  Colleges,  conducted  by  pub- 
lic officers,  and  paid  for  by  the  public  purse. 
Without  these  the  scheme  is  not  perfect  The 
idea  which  lies  at  the  basis  of  the  public  education 
of  the  People  in  a  Democracy,  is  this :  every  man, 
on  condition  of  doing  his  duty,  has  a  right  to  the 
means  of  education,  as  much  as  a  right,  on  the 
same  condition,  to  the  means  of  defence  from  a 
a  public  enemy  in  time  of  war,  or  from  starvation 
in  time  of  plenty  and  of  peace.  I  say  every 
man,  I  mean  every  WOMAN  also.  The  amount  of 
education  must  depend  on  the  three  factors 
named  before,  —  on  the  general  achievement  of 
mankind,  the  special  ability  of  the  State,  and  the 
particular  power  of  the  individual. 

If  all  is  free,  Common  Schools,  High  Schools 
and  Colleges,  boys  and  girls  of  common  ability 
and  common  love  of  learning,  will  get  a  common 
education  ;  those  of  greater  ability,  a  more  extend- 
ed education,  and  those  of  the  highest  powers,  the 
best  culture  which  the  Race  can  now  furnish,  and 
the  State  afford.  Hitherto  no  nation  has  establish- 
ed a  public  College,  wholly  at  the  public  cost, 
where  the  children  of  the  poor  and  the  rich,  could 
enjoy  together  the  great  national  charity  of  supe- 
rior education.  To  do  this  is  certainly  not  consist- 
ent with  the  idea  of  a  Theocracy  or  an  Aristocracy, 


45 


but  it  is  indispensable  to  the  complete  realization 
of  a  Democracy.  Otherwise  the  children  of  the 
rich  will  have  a  monopoly  of  superior  education, 
which  is  the  case  with  the  girls  everywhere  —  for 
only  the  daughters  of  rich  men  can  get  a  superior^ 
education,  even  in  the  United  States,  —  and  with 
boys  in  England  and  France,  and  of  course  the 
offices,  emoluments  and  honors  which  depend  on 
a  superior  education  ;  or  else  the  means  thereof 
will  be  provided  for  poor  lads  by  private  bene- 
factions, charity -funds  and  the  like,  which  some 
pious  and  noble  man  has  devoted  to  this  work.  In 
this  case  the  institutions  will  have  a  sectarian 
character,  be  managed  by  narrow,  bigoted  men, 
and  the  gift  of  the  means  of  education  be  coupled 
with  conditions  which  must  diminish  its  value, 
and  fetter  the  free  spirit  of  the  young  man.  This 
takes  place  in  many  of  the  collegiate  establish- 
ments of  the  North,  which,  notwithstanding  those 
defects,  have  done  a  great  good  to  mankind. 

The  Common  Schools  giving  their  pupil  the  pow- 
er of  reading,  writing  and  calculating,  developing  his 
faculties  arid  furnishing  him  with  much  element- 
ary knowledge,  put  him  in  communication  with 
all  that  is  written  in  a  common  form,  in  the  English 
tongue  ;  its  treasures  lie  level  to  his  eye  and  hand. 
The  High  School  and  the  College,  teaching  him 
also  other  languages,  afford  him  access  to  the 
treasures  contained  there ;  teaching  him  the  math- 
ematics and  furnishing  him  with  the  discipline  of 
Science,  they  enable  him  to  understand  all  that 


46 


has  hitherto  been  recorded  in  the  compendious 
forms  of  Philosophy,  and  thus  place  the  child  of 
large  ability  in  connection  with  all  the  spiritual  treas- 
ures of  the  world.  In  the  mean  time,  for  all  these 
pupils,  there  is  the  material  and  the  human  world 
about  them,  the  world  of  consciousness  within. 
They  can  study  both  and  add  what  they  may  to 
the  treasures  of  human  discovery  or  invention. 

It  seems  to  me  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  State  to 
place  the  means  of  this  education  within  the  reach 
of  all  children  of  superior  ability,  —  a  duty  that 
follows  from  the  very  idea  of  a  Democracy,  not  to 
speak  of  the  idea  of  Christianity.  It  is  not  less  the 
interest  of  the  State  to  do  so,  for  then,  youths,  well 
born,  with  good  abilities,  will  not  be  hindered 
from  getting  a  breeding  proportionate  to  their  birth, 
and  from  occupying  the  stations  which  are  ade- 
quately filled  only  by  men  of  superior  native 
abilities,  enriched  by  culture,  and  developed  to 
their  highest  power.  Then  the  work  of  such  sta- 
tions will  fall  to  the  lot  of  such  men,  and  of  course  be 
done.  Eminent  ability, —  talent  or  genius, —  should 
have  eminent  education,  and  so  serve  the  nation  in 
its  eminent  kind  ;  for  when  God  makes  a  million- 
minded  man,  as  once  or  twice  in  the  ages,  or  a 
myriad-minded  man,  as  He  does  now  and  then,  it 
is  plain  that  this  gift  also  is  to  be  accounted  pre- 
cious and  used  for  the  advantage  of  all. 

I  say  no  State  has  ever  attempted  to  establish 
such  institutions ;  yet  the  government  of  the  United 
States  has  a  seminary  for  the  public  education  of 


47 


a  few  men  at  the  public  cost.  But  it  is  a  school 
to  qualify  men  to  fight ;  they  learn  the  science  of 
destruction,  the  art  thereof,  the  kindred  art  and 
science  of  defence.  If  the  same  money  we  now 
pay  for  military  education  at  West  Point  were  di- 
rected to  the  education  of  Teachers  of  the  highest 
class,  say  Professors  and  Presidents  of  Colleges; 
if  the  same  pains  were  taken  to  procure  able  men, 
to  furnish  them  with  the  proper  instruction  for  their 
special  work,  and  give  them  the  best  possible  gen- 
eral developement  of  their  powers,  not  forgetting 
the  moral,  the  affectional  and  the  religious,  and 
animating  them  with  the  philanthropic  spirit  needed 
for  such  a  work,  how  much  better  results  would  ap- 
pear !  But  in  the  present  intellectual  condition  of 
the  people  it  would  be  thought  unworthy  of  a  na- 
tion to  train  up  Schoolmasters !  But  is  it  only  Sol- 
diers that  we  need  ? 

All  these  institutions  are  but  introductory,  a 
Preparatory  School,  in  three  departments,  to  fit 
youths  for  the  great  educational  establishment  of 
practical  life.  This  will  find  each  youth  and 
maiden  as  the  schools  leave  him,  moulding  him 
to  their  image,  or  moulded  by  him  to  a  better.  So 
it  is  plain  what  the  Teachers  are  to  do  :  —  besides 
teaching  the  special  branches  which  fall  to  their 
lot,  they  are  to  supply  for  the  pupil,  the  defects  of 
the  State,  of  the  Church,  of  Business  and  the  Press, 
especially  the  moral  defects.  For  this  great  work 
of  mediating  between  the  mother  and  the  world, 
for  so  furnishing  and  fitting  the  rising  generation, 


48 


introducing  them  into  practical  life,  that  they  shall 
receive  all  the  good  of  these  public  educational 
forces  with  none  of  the  ill,  but  enhance  the  one 
while  they  withstand  the  other,  and  so,  each  in  him- 
self realize  the  Idea  of  man,  and  all  in  their  social 
capacity,  the  Idea  of  a  Democracy  —  it  is  also  plain 
what  sort  of  men  we  need  for  Teachers  :  we  need 
able  men,  well  endowed  by  nature,  well  disciplined 
by  art;  we  need  superior  men — men  juster  than  the 
State,  truer  and  better  than  the  Churches,  more  hu- 
mane than  Business,  and  higher  than  the  common 
literature  of  the  Press.  There  are  always  men  of 
that  stamp  born  into  the  world ;  enough  of  them  in 
any  age  to  do  its  work.  How  shall  we  bring  them 
to  the  task  ?  Give  young  men  and  women  the 
opportunity  to  fit  themselves  for  the  work,  at  free 
Common  Schools,  High  Schools,  Normal  Schools 
and  Colleges ;  give  them  a  pay  corresponding  to 
their  services,  as  in  England  and  Rome ;  give  them 
social  rank  and  honor  in  that  proportion,  and  they 
will  come  ;  able  men  will  come ;  men  well  discip- 
lined will  come  ;  men  of  talent  and  even  genius  for 
education  will  come. 

In  the  State  you  pay  a  man  of  great  political 
talents  large  money  and  large  honors  ;  hence  there 
is  no  lack  of  ability  in  Politics,  none  of  competition 
for  office.  In  the  Church  you  pay  a  good  deal  for 
a  "  smart  Minister,"  one  who  can  preach  an  audi- 
ence into  the  pews  and  not  himself  out  of  the  pul- 
pit. Talent  enough  goes  to  Business;  educated 
talent  too,  at  least  with  a  special  education  for  this, 


49 


honor,  and  social  distinction.  Private  Colleges  and 
Theological  Schools,  often,  have  powerful  men  for 
their  Professors  and  Presidents ;  sometimes,  men  of 
much  talent  for  education ;  commonly,  men  of  ripe 
learning  and  gentlemanly  accomplishments.  Even 
men  of  genius  seek  a  place  as  Teachers  in  some 
private  college,  where  they  are  under  the  control 
of  the  leaders  of  a  sect,  and  must  not  doubt  its 
creed,  nor  set  science  a  going  freely  lest  it  run  over 
some  impotent  theological  dogma ;  or  else  of  a  little 
coterie,  or  close  corporation  of  men  selected  because 
radical  or  because  conservative,  men  chosen  not  on 
account  of  any  special  fitness  for  superintending 
the  superior  education  of  the  People,  but  because 
they  were  one-sided,  and  leaned  this  way  in  Mass- 
achusetts and  that  in  Virginia.  Able  men  seek  such 
places  because  they  get  a  competent  pay,  competent 
honors,  competent  social  rank.  Senators  and  Ambas- 
sadors are  not  ashamed  to  be  Presidents  of  a  college, 
and  submit  to  the  control  of  a  coterie,  or  a  sect,  and 
produce  their  results.  If  such  men  can  be  had  for 
private  establishments  to  educate  a  few  to  work  in 
such  trammels  and  such  company,  certainly,  it  is 
not  difficult  to  get  them  for  the  public  and  for  the 
education  of  all.  As  the  State  has  the  most  children 
to  educate,  the  most  money  to  pay  with,  it  is  clear, 
not  only  that  they  need  the  best  ability  for  this  work, 
but  that  they  can  have  it  soon  as  they  make  the 
Teacher's  calling  gainful  and  respectable. 

In  England  and  Rome,  the  most  important  spir- 
itual function  of  the  State  is  the  production  of  the 
7 


50 


Gentleman  and  the  Priest ;  in  Democratic  America  it 
is  the  production  of  the  Man.  Some  nations  have 
taken  pains  with  the  military  training  of  all  the 
People,  for  the  sake  of  the  State,  and  made  every 
man  a  soldier.  No  nation  has  hitherto  taken 
equivalent  pains  with  the  general  education  of  all, 
for  the  sake  of  the  State,  and  the  sake  of  the  citi- 
zens ;  —  "  the  heathens  of  China  "  have  done  more 
than  any  Christian  people,  for  the  education  of  all  — 
this  was  not  needed  in  a  Theocracy,  nor  an  Aristoc- 
racy—  it  is  essential  to  a  Democracy.  This  is 
needed  politically,  for,  where  all  men  are  voters, 
the  ignorant  man,  who  cannot  read  the  ballot 
which  he  casts ;  the  thief,  the  pirate  and  the  mur- 
derer, may,  at  any  time,  turn  the  scale  of  an  elec- 
tion, and  do  us  a  damage  which  it  will  take  cen- 
turies to  repair.  Ignorant  men  are  the  tools  of  the 
demagogue;  how  often  he  uses  them,  and  for 
what  purposes  —  we  need  not  go  back  many  years 
to  learn.  Let  the  people  be  ignorant  and  suffrage 
universal,  a  very  few  men  will  control  the  State 
and  laugh  at  the  folly  of  the  applauding  multitude 
whose  bread  they  waste,  and  on  whose  necks  they 
ride  to  indolence  and  miserable  fame. 

America  has  nothing  to  fear  from  any  foreign 
foe ;  for  nearly  forty  years  she  has  had  no  quarrel 
but  of  her  own  making.  Such  is  our  enterprise 
and  our  strength,  that  few  nations  would,  careless- 
ly, engage  in  war  with  us ;  none,  without  great 
provocation.  In  the  midst  of  us,  is  our  danger ; 
not  in  foreign  arms,  but  in  the  ignorance  and  the 


wickedness  of  our  own  children,  the  ignorance  of 
the  many,  the  wickedness  of  the  few  who  will  lead 
the  many  to  their  ruin.  The  bulwark  of  America 
is  not  the  army  and  the  navy  of  the  United  States, 
with  all  the  men  at  public  cost  instructed  in  the 
art  of  war ;  it  is  not  the  swords  and  muskets  idly 
bristling  in  our  armories ;  it  is  not  the  cannon  and 
the  powder  carefully  laid  by ;  no,  nor  is  it  yet  the 
forts,  which  frown  in  all  their  grim  barbarity  of  stone 
along  the  coast,  defacing  the  landscape,  else  so  fair : 
these  might  all  be  destroyed  to-night,  and  the  na- 
tion be  as  safe  as  now.  The  more  effectual  bulwark 
of  America  is  her  Schools.  The  cheap  spelling- 
book,  or  the  vane  on  her  school-house  is  a  better 
symbol  of  the  nation  than  "  the  star  spangled  ban- 
ner ; "  the  Printing  Press  does  more  than  the  can- 
non, the  Press  is  mightier  than  the  sword.  The 
army  that  is  to  keep  our  liberties  —  you  are  part 
of  that,  the  noble  army  of  Teachers.  It  is  you, 
who  are  to  make  a  great  nation  greater,  even  wise 
and  good,  —  the  next  generation  better  than  their 
sires. 

Europe  shows  us,  by  experiment,  that  a  Republic 
cannot  be  made  by  a  few  well  minded  men,  how- 
ever well  meaning.  They  tried  for  it  at  Rome, 
full  of  enlightened  Priests ;  in  Germany,  the  para- 
dise of  the  Scholar,  but  there  was  not  a  People  well 
educated,  and  a  Democracy  could  not  stand  up- 
right long  enough  to  be  set  a  going.  In  France, 
where  men  are  better  fitted  for  the  experiment 
than  elsewhere  in  continental  Europe,  you  see 


what  comes  of  it  —  the  first  step  is  a  stumble,  and 
for  their  President,  the  raw  Republicans  choose  an 
Autocrat,  not  a  Democrat ;  not  a  mere  soldier,  but 
only  the  name  of  a  soldier ;  one  that  thinks  it  an 
insult,  if  Liberty,  Equality  and  Fraternity  be  but 
named ! 

Think  you  a  Democracy  can  stand  without  the 
education  of  all ;  not  barely  the  smallest  pittance 
thereof  which  will  keep  a  live  soul  in  a  live  body, 
but  a  large,  generous  cultivation  of  mind  and  con- 
science, heart  and  soul !  A  man,  with  half  an  eye, 
can  see  how  we  suffer  continually  in  Politics  for 
lack  of  education  among  the  People.  Some  na- 
tions are  priest-ridden,  some  king-ridden,  some  rid- 
den of  nobles ;  America  is  ridden  by  politicians,  a 
heavy  burthen  for  a  foolish  neck. 

Our  industrial  interests  demand  the  same  edu- 
cation, the  industrial  prosperity  of  the  North,  our 
lands  yearly  enriching,  while  they  bear  their  annu- 
al crop ;  our  railroads,  mills  and  machines,  the 
harness  with  which  we  tackle  the  elements,  —  for 
we  domesticate  fire  and  water,  yes.  the  very  light- 
ning of  heaven  —  all  these  are  but  material  results 
of  the  intelligence  of  the  People.  Our  political 
success  and  our  industrial  prosperity,  both  come 
from  the  pains  taken  with  the  education  of  the 
People.  Halve  this  education,  and  you  take  away 
three-fourths  of  our  political  welfare,  three-fourhs 
of  our  industrial  prosperity;  double  this  education, 
you  greaten  the  political  welfare  of  the  People,  you 
increase  their  industrial  success  fourfold.  Yes, 


more  than  that,  for  the  results  of  education  increase 
by  a  ratio  of  much  higher  powers. 

It  seems  strange  that  so  few  of  the  great  men  in 
Politics  have  cared  much  for  the  education  of  the 
People ;  only  one  of  those,  now  prominent  before 
the  North,  is  intimately  connected  with  it.  He,  at 
great  personal  sacrifice  of  money,  of  comfort,  of 
health,  even  of  respectability,  became  Superintend- 
ent of  the  Common  Schools  of  Massachusetts,  a 
place,  whence  we  could  ill  spare  him,  to  take 
the  place  of  the  noble  man  he  succeeds.  Few  of 
the  prominent  scholars  of  the  land,  interest  them- 
selves in  the  public  education  of  the  People.  The 
men  of  superior  culture  think  the  Common  School 
beneath  their  notice ;  but  it  is  the  mother  of  them  all. 

None  of  the  States  of  the  North  has  ever  given 
this  matter  the  attention  it  demands.  When  we 
legislate  about  public  Education,  this  is  the. ques- 
tion before  us :  —  Shall  we  give  our  posterity  the 
greatest  blessing  which  one  generation  can  bestow 
upon  another?  Shall  we  give  them  a  personal 
power  which  will  create  wealth  in  every  form, 
multiply  ships,  and  roads  of  earth,  or  of  iron ;  subdue 
the  forest,  till  the  field,  chain  the  rivers,  hold  the 
winds  as  its  vassals,  bind  with  an  iron  yoke  the  fire 
and  water,  and  catch  and  tame  the  lightning  of 
God  ?  Shall  we  give  them  a  personal  power  which 
will  make  them  sober,  temperate,  healthy  and 
wise  ;  which  shall  keep  them  at  peace,  abroad  and 
at  home,  organize  them  so  wisely  that  all  shall  be 
united,  and  yet,  each  left  free,  with  no  tyranny  of 


54 


the  few  over  the  many,  or  the  little  over  the  great  ? 
Shall  we  enable  them  to  keep,  to  improve,  to 
double  manifold  the  political,  social  and  personal 
blessings  they  now  possess;  shall  we  give  them 
this  power  to  create  riches,  to  promote  order,  peace, 
happiness  — -  all  forms  of  human  welfare,  or  shall 
we  not  ?  That  is  the  question.  Give  us  intelligent 
men,  moral  men,  men  well  developed  in  mind 
and  conscience,  heart  and  soul,  men  that  love  man 
and  God,  industrial  prosperity,  social  prosperity, 
and  political  prosperity,  are  sure  to  follow.  But 
without  such  men,  all  the  machinery  of  this  threefold 
prosperity  is  but  a  bauble  in  a  child's  hand,  which 
he  will  soon  break  or  lose,  which  he  cannot  replace 
when  gone,  nor  use  while  kept. 

Rich  men,  who  have  intelligence  and  good- 
ness, will  educate  their  children,  at  whatever  cost. 
There  are  some  men,  even  poor  men's  sons,  born 
with  such  native  power  that  they  will  achieve  an 
education,  often  a  most  masterly  culture;  men 
whom  no  poverty  can  degrade,  or  make  vulgar, 
whom  no  lack  of  means  of  culture  can  keep  from 
being  wise  and  great.  Such  are  exceptional  men ; 
the  majority,  nine-tenths  of  the  people,  will  depend, 
for  their  culture,  on  the  public  institutions  of  the 
land.  If  there  had  never  been  a  free  public  school 
in  New  England,  not  half  of  her  mechanics  and  far- 
mers would  now  be  able  to  read,  not  a  fourth  part 
of  her  women.  I  need  not  stop  to  tell  what  would 
be  the  condition  of  her  Agriculture,  her  Manufac- 
tures, her  Commerce ;  they  would  have  been,  per- 


55 


haps,  even  behind  the  Agriculture,  Commerce  and 
Manufactures  of  South  Carolina.  I  need  not  ask 
what  would  be  the  condition  of  her  free  church- 
es, or  the  republican  institutions  which  now  beau- 
tify her  rugged  shores  and  sterile  soil ;  there  would 
be  no  such  churches,  no  such  institutions.  If 
there  had  been  no  such  schools  in  New  Eng- 
land, the  Revolution  would  yet  remain  to  be 
fought.  Take  away  the  free  schools,  you  take  away 
the  cause  of  our  manifold  prosperity ;  double  their 
efficiency  and  value,  you  not  only  double  and 
quadruple  the  prosperity  of  the  People,  but  you 
will  enlarge  their  welfare  —  political,  social,  per- 
sonal —  far  more  than  I  now  dare  to  calculate.  I 
know  men  object  to  public  schools;  they  say,  edu- 
cation must  be  bottomed  on  religion,  and  that 
cannot  be  taught  unless  we  have  a  State-religion, 
taught  "  by  authority  "  in  all  our  schools  ;  we  can- 
not teach  religion,  without  teaching  it  in  a  sectarian 
form.  This  objection  is  getting  made  in  New  York ; 
we  have  got  beyond  it  in  New  England.  It  is  true, 
all  manly  education  must  be  bottomed  on  religion ; 
it  is  essential  to  the  normal  development  of  man, 
and  all  attempts  at  education,  without  this,  must 
fail  of  the  highest  end.  But  there  are  two  parts  of 
religion  which  can  be  taught  in  all  the  schools, 
without  disturbing  the  denominations,  or  trenching 
upon  their  ground,  namely,  Piety,  the  love  of  God, 
and  Goodness,  the  love  of  man.  The  rest  of  relig- 
ion —  after  Piety  and  Goodness  are  removed,  may 


56 


safely  be  left  to  the  institutions  of  any  of  the  sects, 
and  so  the  State  will  not  occupy  their  ground. 

It  is  often  said  that  Superior  Education  is  not 
much  needed;  the  common  schools  are  enough, 
and  good  enough,  for  it  is  thought  that  superior 
education  is  needed  for  men  as  Lawyers,  Ministers, 
Doctors,  and  the  like,  not  for  men  as  men.  It  is 
not  so.  We  want  men  cultivated  with  the  best 
discipline,  everywhere,  not  for  the  profession's  sake, 
but  for  the  man's  sake.  Every  man  with  a  supe- 
rior culture,  intellectual,  moral  and  religious,  ev- 
ery woman  thus  developed,  is  a  safeguard  and  a 
blessing.  He  may  sit  on  the  bench  of  a  judge,  or 
a  shoemaker,  be  a  clergyman,  or  an  oysterman, 
that  matters  little,  he  is  still  a  safeguard  and  a 
blessing.  The  idea  that  none  should  have  a  supe- 
rior education  but  professional  men  —  they  only 
for  the  profession's  sake,  belongs  to  dark  ages,  and 
is  unworthy  of  a  Democracy. 

It  is  the  duty  of  all  men  to  watch  over  the  pub- 
lic Education  of  the  People,  for  it  is  the  most  im- 
portant work  of  the  State.  It  is  particularly  the 
duty  of  men  who,  hitherto,  have  least  attended  to 
it,  men  of  the  highest  culture,  men,  too,  of  the 
highest  genius.  If  a  man  with  but  common  abil- 
ities, has  attained  great  learning,  he  is  one  of  the 
"public  administrators,"  to  distribute  the  goods  of 
men  of  genius,  from  other  times  and  lands,  to  man- 
kind, their  legal  heirs.  Why  does  God  sometimes 
endow  a  man  with  intellectual  power,  making, 


57 


now  and  then,  a  million-minded  man?  Is  that 
superiority  of  gift  solely  for  the  man's  own  sake  ? 
Shame  on  such  a  thought.  It  is  of  little  value  to 
him  unless  he  use  it  for  me ;  it  is  for  your  sake 
and  my  sake,  more  than  for  his  own.  He  is  a  pre- 
cious almoner  of  wisdom  ;  one  of  the  public  guar- 
dians of  mankind,  to  think  for  us,  to  help  us  think 
for  ourselves ;  born  to  educate  the  world  of  feebler 
men  I  call  on  such  men,  men  of  culture,  men 
of  genius,  to  help  build  up  institutions  for  the  edu- 
cation of  the  People.  If  they  neglect  this,  they  are 
false  to  their  trust.  The  culture  which  separates  a 
man  from  sympathy  with  the  ignorant,  is  a  curse 
to  both,  and  the  genius  which  separates  a  man 
from  his  fellow  creatures,  lowlier  born  than  he,  is 
the  genius  of  a  demon. 

Men  and  women,  practical  teachers  now  before 
me,  a  great  trust  is  in  your  hands ;  nine-tenths  of 
the  children  of  the  People,  depend  on  you  for  their 
early  culture,  for  all  the  scholastic  discipline  they 
will  ever  get ;  their  manly  culture  will  depend  on 
that,  their  prosperity  thereon,  all  these  on  you. 
When  they  are  men,  you  know  what  evils  they 
will  easily  learn  from  State  and  Church,  from  Busi- 
ness and  the  Press.  It  is  for  you  to  give  them  such 
a  developing  and  such  a  furnishing  of  their  powers, 
that  they  will  withstand,  counteract  and  extermi- 
nate that  evil.  Teach  them  to  love  Justice  better 
than  their  native  land,  Truth  better  than  their 
Church,  Humanity  more  than  money,  and  Fidelity 
8 


58 


to  their  own  Nature  better  than  the  Public  Opinion 
of  the  Press.  As  the  chief  thing  of  all,  teach  them 
to  love  man  and  God.  Your  characters  will  be  the 
inspiration  of  these  children ;  your  prayers  their 
practice,  your  faith  their  works. 

The  rising  generation  is  in  your  hands,  you  can 
fashion  them  in  your  own  image,  you  will,  you 
must  do  this.  Great  duties  will  devolve  on  these 
children  when  grown  up  to  be  men ;  you  are  to  fit 
them  for  these  duties.  Since  the  Revolution,  there 
has  not  been  a  question  before  the  country  —  not 
a  question  of  Constitution  or  Confederacy,  Free 
Trade  or  Protective  Tariff,  Sub-treasury  or  Bank, 
of  Peace  or  War,  Freedom  or  Slavery,  the  Exten- 
sion of  Liberty,  or  the  Extension  of  Bondage  — 
not  a  question  of  this  sort  has  come  up  before 
Congress,  or  the  People,  which  could  not  have  been 
better  decided  by  seven  men,  honest,  intelligent 
and  just,  who  loved  man  and  God,  and  looked, 
with  a  single  eye,  to  what  was  right  in  the  case. 
It  is  your  business  to  train  up  such  men.  A  Rep- 
resentative, a  Senator,  a  Governor  may  be  made, 
any  day,  by  a  vote.  Ballots  can  make  a  President 
out  of  almost  any  thing;  the  most  ordinary  ma- 
terial is  not  too  cheap  and  vulgar  for  that.  But  all 
the  votes  of  all  the  conventions,  all  the  parties,  are 
unable  to  make  a  People  capable  of  self-govern- 
ment. Nay,  they  cannot  put  Intelligence  and  Jus- 
tice into  the  head  of  a  single  man.  You  are  to  do 
that.  You  are  the  "  Sacred  Legion,"  the  "  Theban 
Brothers  "  to  repel  the  greatest  foes  that  can  invade 


59 


the  land,  the  only  foes  to  be  feared;  you  are  to 
repel  Ignorance,  Injustice,  Unmanliness  and  Irre- 
ligion.  With  none  else  to  help  you,  in  ten  years' 
time,  you  can  double  the  value  of  your  schools, 
double  the  amount  of  development  and  instruc- 
tion you  annually  furnish.  So  doing,  you  shall 
double,  triple,  quadruple,  multiply  manifold  the 
blessings  of  the  land.  You  can,  if  you  will.  I  ask 
if  you  will  ?  If  your  works  say  "  Yes,"  then  you  will 
be  the  great  Benefactors  of  the  land,  not  giving 
money,  but  a  charity  far  nobler  yet,  Education,  the 
greatest  charity.  You  will  help  fulfil  the  prophecy 
which  noble  men  long  since  predicted  of  mankind, 
and  help  found  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  on  earth ; 
you  will  follow  the  steps  of  that  noblest  man  of 
men,  the  Great  Educator  of  the  Human  Race, 
whom  the  Christians  still  worship  as  their  God. 
Yes,  you  will  work  with  God  himself;  He  will 
work  with  you,  work  for  you,  and  bless  you  with 
everlasting  life. 


f< 

I 


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